Shattering Glass (Outdated)
by Arcanedaydreams
Summary: His kind heart hides behind a wall made of glass, silently watching and trying not to draw attention to himself. Though with his sister, Haruhi, starting to attend the same prestigious Academy as he is, Second-Year Student Susumu Fujioka will realize that he can't stay behind his protective glass for much longer.
1. In Debt to the Ouran Host Club

**Disclaimer**

**This is a boys love story. It will follow the anime up to a certain point, and then continue from the manga.**

**Aside from my original characters, the characters in this story were created by Bisco Hatori.**

**Ouran High School Host Club also known as Ouran KouKou Host Club is copyright owned by Bisco Hatori.**

* * *

At the sound of the bell, Susumu stood up from his seat instantly and headed for the door, wading through the desk rows. He started to slow down when he overheard some girls chatting.

Aki stared at Nozomi with an incredulous expression, as Nozomi snapped a photo of Tamaki and Kyoya walking away from their desks together.

Nozomi grinned happily staring at the photo on her phone, and clutched it to her chest.

Nozomi quickly darted her brown eyes at Aki. "Did you see the way Ootori-san looked at Suoh-san when he tried to look at his answers?"

"So that's a sign of a budding romance like in manga?" Aki questioned.

"They're bound to end up together! We have to make it happen!"

"Nozomi," Aki alerted as she looked away, covering her eyes with her hand as students started to stare at them, "you don't seem to care that everyone can hear you."

"Hey, I'm not the only girl at school who loves BL," Nozomi defended as she sat back down, before suddenly noticing a boy staring at them. She sent a friendly smile at the honor student, but he looked away with his eyes on the ground and hurried towards the door.

Without keeping an eye on where he was going, Susumu bumped into Kyoya's backside, which was a stroke of bad luck for him. He looked up with a nervous expression and while Kyoya held a neutral expression on his face, his unrelenting stare made Susumu feel small.

Susumu scurried out of the classroom like a frightened mouse.

* * *

The library in the Ouran Academy South Building is supposed to be quiet and serene, a place for studious students to gain more knowledge from books and learn different subjects outside of the classroom, but it became a personal hang out spot for students to chat and have a good time.

Haruhi lifted her eyes off her textbook, peering at her older brother indulged in a book with a curious look.

"Onii-chan," Haruhi called through the chatter in the library, trying to get his attention, "Is it always like this?"

Susumu glanced at his sister for a second and then continued reading. A frown came to her face.

"I'm beginning to think that rich kids only come to school to have a good time," Haruhi sighed. When the noise in the library became too much for her, she set her pencil down and organized her things.

"There's got to be somewhere quiet," Haruhi pondered as she got out of her chair. "Let's go."

Susumu pushed in his chair and followed her as he read his book.

* * *

"You know," Haruhi said in a concerned tone as she peered at her brother, "if you keep your nose in that book, you're going to knock into something."

Susumu said nothing, reading the next paragraph.

"This place has four library rooms. You'd think one of them would be quiet," Haruhi sighed as they started to walk up a grand staircase.

They eventually came to a door at the end of the north hallway. Susumu turned down the hallway to his right and walked away, assuming that Haruhi was following him.

Haruhi gazed up at the sign and read it. "An abandoned music room." She reached for the door handle.

"Guess this is the only place I'll be able to study in peace and quiet," She said as she twisted the handle and opened the door, then headed inside.

He was already halfway down the hall when Susumu suddenly stopped walking, lowered his book, and scoped around for Haruhi.

Seeing that she wasn't with him, he had to fight back his anxiety in order to rush back to the door.

He approached the closed door cautiously and slowly reached out to grab the handle with a shaky hand. He shook off the small beads of sweat forming on his right hand before finally grabbing and turning the door handle.

Susumu immediately spotted Haruhi with her back pressed against a wall as if she was trying to phase through it. Unfortunately, he had caught the attention of each host in the room, especially since he had flung open the door, barging into their club room.

Kyoya seemingly found it curious to see the quiet art student standing in the Host Club though it took no time at all for a smirk to appear on his face.

"Welcome to the Ouran Host Club, Honor Student-san and Fujioka-san," Kyoya greeted.

"You must be Susumu's little brother, Haruhi-kun!" Tamaki said, popping up in front of Haruhi. "You're the exceptional Honor Student we've heard about!"

Susumu looked confused. Ever since Haruhi borrowed his baggy clothes on her first day at school, she surprisingly chose to keep wearing his old clothes. Now that he thought about it, there is no doubt that she could mistaken for a boy with her messily-styled hair and large glasses. He ruffled his own untidy hair when he realized that Tamaki had addressed him by his first name.

"How did you know our names?" Haruhi asked, looking over her shoulder.

Susumu suddenly cringed out of anxiousness when Tamaki placed his hand on his shoulder. "Susumu is in our class, you see! He's quiet, but that's fine, introverts can be hosts, too." Susumu's eyes widened as Tamaki smiled down at him. "I knew you were interesting in our club! You couldn't hide it for long, my friend!"

"We're outta here," Haruhi said quickly as she took her brother by the wrist and then dragged him toward the door.

"Hey! Come back here, Haru-chan!" The short, blonde boy grabbed her arm, pulling her down to his height. "You guys must be like superheroes or something! That's so cool!"

"We're just ordinary honor students," Haruhi corrected before she realized what she had been called, "and who do you think you're calling Haru-chan?!"

"I never would have imagined the famous scholars were so openly gay," Tamaki said, holding his chin.

Susumu feared that if his grip on his book kept tightening he would wreck the precious pages.

Tamaki snapped his fingers. "Let's start with you, Susumu!"

Susumu shut his eyes, unable to block them all out.

"Do you like the strong, silent type?" Tamaki referred to a tough-looking third year student.

"The boy lolita?" He referred to the young blonde boy.

"How about the mischievous type," Tamaki gestured to the twins who linked arms.

"Or the cool type?"

His eyes shot wide and then brown met with gray, and while Susumu could have sworn Kyoya narrowed his eyes at him, he denied it, averting the fixed gaze of his classmate.

"Or maybe," Tamaki suggested, inching closer to Susumu and then took a hold of his chin, lifting his gaze off the floor to meet his violet eyes, "you're into a guy like me? What do you say?"

Susumu squirmed and stumbled back into the pedestal behind him. The book slipped out of his hand as he reached out for the vase, though it slipped out of his fingers.

He watched the vase fly off the pedestal. The crash echoed in the room. It shattered into several shards, the remains of a beautiful vase scattered across floor like a ruined work of art.

The twins poked their heads from behind him.

"We were going to feature that Renaissance vase in an upcoming school auction."

"Oh, now you've done it, commoner. The bidding on that vase was supposed to start at eight million yen!"

Susumu noticed Haruhi was anxiously making calculations. "How many thousand yen is that? How many thousands are in eight million?" She turned to the twins and said nervously, "We're gonna have to pay you back."

"With what money?"

"You two can't even afford school uniforms."

Kyoya bent down, snatching a shard off the floor before rising back up, all the while holding a smirk. "Well, what do you think we should do, Tamaki?"

Tamaki sat down in a chair, crossing one leg over the other. "There's a famous saying you may have heard, Fujiokas. When in Rome, you should do as the romans do."

"Since you have no money, you can both pay with your bodies. That means starting today," Tamaki said as he pointed at them as a dark shadow suddenly cast over his face, "you're the Host Club's dogs."

Susumu dropped his head, his bangs partly covering his eyes. His mind desperately tried to piece together a solution. Although no sound had come out before, he had a choice until now.

He shot his head up and conjured his voice to him. "I was the one who broke the vase, so it's only my responsibility!"

Haruhi's big brown orbs widened, completely taken by surprise. "Onii-chan, why are you doing this?"

"I will pay it off," Susumu stated as he bowed in front of the boys. "Haruhi shouldn't be involved in this."

Haruhi smiled at her older brother.

"Sorry, Fujiokas, but you won't be splitting up," Tamaki denied as he placed his elbow on the chair arm and held his cheek in his palm. "You're both going to pay off the debt, and that's final."

* * *

"Speak of the devil." Tamaki waved at the siblings with a smile across his face as they passed under the archway. "Thanks for doing the shopping, little piglets."

"Piglets?" Haruhi repeated and Susumu shrugged.

"Did you get everything on our list?"

"It's all in there," Haruhi said after she handed her bag to Tamaki. As much as she was trying to hide it, she was very irritated from having to run the Host Club's errands.

Tamaki stared at the coffee container in his hand. "Hey, wait a minute? What is this?"

"Just what it looks like-it's coffee."

Tamaki read the label on the frontside. "I've never heard of this brand before, is this the kind that's already ground?"

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked, raising her brow. "It's instant."

"It's instant?" Two guests repeated, tilting their heads.

"I've heard of this before, it's commoner's coffee!" Tamaki gasped. "You just add hot water!"

By now, more guests started to gather.

"I didn't know there was such a thing," a guest said.

"So it's true, then. Poor people don't have enough time to grind their own coffee beans," a dark haired girl stated and the guests nodded their heads in agreement.

"Commoners are pretty smart," Kyoya commented.

"100 gm for 300 yen," Hikaru read.

"That's a lot less than we normally pay," Koaru said.

"We'll go back and get something else," Haruhi snapped, "excuse us for not buying you guys expensive coffee."

"No," Tamaki protested, raising his arm, "I'll keep it."

The guests gasped.

"I'm going to give it a try," Tamaki said as he stood up. He raised the container up high and declared, "I will drink this coffee!"

Susumu had watched Tamaki's dramatic display with a questioning look on his face.

"All right, Haruhi, Susumu, come over here and make some of this commoner's coffee," he ordered.

"Damn, these rich people," Haruhi sighed.

"Oh, Tamaki, now you're taking the joke too far."

Susumu glanced at the red haired girl that previously sat beside Tamaki.

She set her teacup back onto its saucer. "You're palate won't be able to stomach that crap. You don't have to drink it just because they bought it," The redhead said, then she turned to Haruhi. "I'm sorry, I was talking to myself."

Haruhi was going to say something when Tamaki called for her again.

"We're coming."

* * *

"How are you holding up?" Haruhi asked.

"I'm all right," Susumu replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "Despite what Suoh-san believes, I never intended to join the Host Club. Actually, I tried to avoid making contact with members of the club."

"I can see why you'd want to avoid associating with these guys," Haruhi said as she looked around the club room, noticing a pair of third-years that came into the room and sat with their guests.

"Is that boy really a third year?" Haruhi wondered.

"Honey-senpai may seem young and childish, but he's a prodigy," Kyoya explained, "and then Mori-senpai's allure is his strong and silent disposition."

"Susu-chan! Haru-chan!"

Honey latched onto Susumu's arm and spun him. "Hey, do you want to have some cake with me?"

Susumu got dizzy from the spin. Haruhi put her hands on his shoulders to steady him.

"Thanks, but I don't really like cake," she declined.

"Then, how would you like to hold my bunny Usa-chan?" Honey asked, showing said pink bunny in front of them.

Haruhi stared at the bunny. "He is kinda cute, huh."

"Take good care of him, okay?" He told her, pushing the bunny into her arms, before running off.

"You'll notice that our club utilizes each man's unique characteristics to cater to the desires of our guests," Kyoya explained, eyeying the two of them. "Just so you know, Tamaki is number one around here-he is the king. His request rate is seventy percent."

"What is this world coming to?"

"And in order for you to pay off your eight million yen debt with us, you both will act as the Ouran Host Club's dogs until you graduate," Kyoya said before correcting himself, "I'm sorry, I meant our errand boys."

"You can try to run away if you want to, Haruhi, Susumu, but just so you know, my family employs a private police force of one hundred officers." Kyoya pushed up his glasses with two fingers and asked, "By the way, do you both have passports?"

"Meaning we can't get out of this," Haruhi whispered to Susumu.

"I should have tried harder to get you out of this." Susumu sighed, looking at the ground. "You deserve to have a good time here, and I ruined it for you."

Haruhi put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to look at her. She gave her brother a smile. "I wouldn't have let you handle it all on your own."

Susumu chose not to hide his smile.

* * *

"Aren't you done changing yet?" Tamaki asked from the other side of the curtain.

Susumu fixed his tie.

He and Haruhi were each given an Ouran Academy male uniform and a makeover, which had been ordered by Tamaki. Although Haruhi had gotten into a heated battle with the twins in the changing room. Susumu snuck out of the changing room when the twins had left.

Haruhi pushed the curtain aside. "You sure it's really okay for me to keep this uniform?"

"You're as pretty as a girl! Adorable!" Tamaki gushed.

"Haru-chan, you look so cute!" Honey admired.

The twins gazed at Haruhi, amazed.

"If we had known that's how you really look-"

"-we would've helped you out sooner."

Susumu put a fist to his mouth as he studied Haruhi. "You look good."

"Your hair looks nice," Haruhi complimented him.

Susumu turned his eyes away bashfully as he touched the back of his hair. "Thank you."

"Who knows, maybe they'll draw in some customers," Kyoya said.

"You know, that's just what I was thinking!" Tamaki agreed. "Our errand boys are moving up the ranks! Starting today, you two are official members of the Host Club!"

Tamaki pointed at Haruhi. "Haruhi, I will personally train you to be a first-rate host!" He had a contemplative look on his face when he turned to Susumu. "Now, what to do with you? You're a blank slate." Tamaki clicked his fingers after much thought. "You'll be under Kyoya's tutelage! Kyoya's cool influence is exactly what you need to get noticed!"

Susumu glanced at Kyoya, who was writing something in his notebook. His stare did not go unnoticed.

Kyoya took his eyes off his work and met with the brown eyes of the nervous young man, sending a smirk to Susumu, causing him to get a chill like someone shoved a cold handful of snow down his uniform.

* * *

A sketchbook on his lap, Susumu fiddled with his pencil, spinning the sharpened tool around his middle finger. He sat by the table, cozily on the floor.

Haruhi was in the kitchen, collecting a textbook that she'd forgotten in her bag.

It annoyed her that she had to get up in the middle of her study session to get the material. After a whole day of learning the ropes, Haruhi wanted to sit down and study. She didn't get much of a chance to these past two days.

First the library, then the Host Club.

Haruhi continued to rummage through her bag, but she couldn't find her textbook. She refused the believe that she misplaced it and kept searching.

She carried a lot of books with her, a few less than her brother does. She liked that he always had a book with him. He would be kind and offer his book to her when he was done reading it, and if she wasn't busy, she'd sit down and immerse herself in a completely different world.

Haruhi looked over her shoulder, and saw her brother sketching again, his pencil moving in gentle strokes.

'What is he drawing now,' Haruhi wondered. 'He might let me see it if I ask him.'

Haruhi got back to her task at hand. Even if she rummaged some more, the textbook wouldn't just appear.

"Haruhi."

"Huh?" She looked over her shoulder.

"Are you looking for this?" Susumu asked, holding her textbook in his hand. Haruhi's fingers brushed his as she took it.

She flipped the book to its cover, checking for her name on the inside.

"Where did you find it?" She asked as she looked up at him.

"I put it in my bag after your stuff got wet," He replied.

Haruhi grabbed the counter to lift herself up. "I didn't think you had it," She said as she walked with him back to the table. "It was nice of you to hold onto this for me."

Susumu gave her half a smile. "It was the least I could do," Susumu said, sitting back down. "How did your bag get into the pond?"

"Somebody must've tossed it out the window," Haruhi explained, taking a new pencil from the bookshelf. "I didn't think there were bullies at that school."

She turned to face him. "It didn't make sense until I found a suspect."

"Who do you suspect?" Susumu asked.

"Ayanokoji," Haruhi answered.

"Is there any reason you suspect her?" He asked as he rested his elbows on the table.

"Elbows off the table," Haruhi ordered.

Susumu did as he was told, putting his hands on his closed sketchbook. "Do you need advice?"

"I know what you're going to say. You'll just tell me to not confront her." Haruhi paused, her lips straightening into a line. "She said some things about you that I can't get out of my head."

"Hearing you want to defend me, I'm a little worried." Susumu stared down at his sketchbook, hands forming into fists. "I should pay for the debt myself. You don't have to take that burden on your shoulders."

Haruhi reached over the table and draped her hand over his, causing Susumu to lift his eyes, staring into her affectionate brown eyes. "You've always helped me out, so it's only fair I return your kindness. We'll see this through together."

Susumu put his other hand over top hers, brushing his fingers on her soft skin. "Thank you, Haruhi. I love you for that."

Haruhi returned the smile. "I love you, too, Onii-chan."

* * *

"I get it now." Haruhi lifted her head up, straightening her posture. "You're jealous of me."

Haruhi noticed a behavioral change in the female opposite her. She had grit her teeth and squinted her eyes at Haruhi.

There is anger in her own eyes. "You were too blinded by your own jealousy to think carefully about your moves."

"You can call me whatever the hell you want, but don't ever insult my brother," Haruhi "He isn't a nobody. He actually has a kind heart, that's something you'll never have."

"Ah!"

Susumu was sweeping the floor when he heard Ayanokoji cry.

Ayanokoji was pinned underneath Haruhi. She cried out to be rescued from the "unruly commoner".

Susumu gripped the broom handle tightly as he watched. The twins stood on either side of them, with overturned water pitchers in their hands. When they had dumped the water on Ayanokoji's head, they also soaked Haruhi.

Ayanokoji, completely drenched, stared at them. "Why did you do that?" Tamaki helped Ayanokoji up.

"Do something, Tamaki, Haruhi just assaulted me," Ayanokoji pleaded.

Tamaki brushed her bangs away from her eye and cupped her face. "I'm disappointing in you. You threw his bag into the pond, didn't you?"

Ayanokoji gasped. "Do you have any proof that I did?"

"You know, you're a beautiful girl, but you aren't classy enough to be our guest, dear," Tamaki said. "If there's one thing I know, Haruhi is not that kind of man."

Haruhi gazed upwards at Susumu. "I had to help you," it slipped out of her mouth.

"Now let me help you." Susumu smiled. He extended the handle out to her, and Haruhi wrapped both her hands around the wooden handle. While Susumu tried to pull her up, he almost slipped on the water.

"Careful," she warned him.

"I know." Susumu got her back up on her feet.

"Hmm." Tamaki put a hand to his mouth in thought. "Now how am I going to punish you both?" He pointed at Haruhi and Susumu. "Your quotas are now one thousand!"

"One thousand?!"

Susumu stood in front of Haruhi, blocking her from the boys. "Haruhi wasn't at fault, and I wasn't a part of it!"

"Careful Susumu or I'll add more to your quota!" Tamaki threatened.

Susumu lowered his head. He couldn't quite breath easy knowing that one slip up meant the quota would be raised.

Kyoya approached without being noticed. "Keep it up and you might surpass my expectations."

Startled, Susumu shot his head up, seeing Kyoya next to him.

Kyoya pointed at the wet floor. "You should clean that up."

Susumu eyed the floor and groaned.

* * *

"Haruhi, you're a girl?" Tamaki asked.

"Biologically speaking, yeah," she answered.

"Listen, Senpai, I don't really care if you guys recognize me as a boy or a girl." Haruhi fixed the bow on the girl's uniform, then folded her arms. "In my opinion, it's more important for a person to be recognized for who they are, rather than what sex they are."

"Well, isn't this an interesting development," Kyoya knew it all along.

"Oh, yeah."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tamaki asked Susumu.

Susumu only shrugged.

"Well, why did you lie and call her _Otouto_?!" Tamaki cried.

"You know, I have to say, Senpai, I thought you were pretty cool earlier," Haruhi complimented, causing a blush to creep up on Tamaki.

"Now I could be wrong, but I think we're witnessing the beginnings of love here," Kyoya said.

Kyoya looked down at Susumu, who stood beside him. He silently watched the situation unfold, causing Kyoya to put a hand under his chin. From what Kyoya has gathered, Susumu prefers to observe and refuses to make eye-contact with others. When spoken to, he does not say a word. Kyoya only heard Susumu's voice for the first time after he broke the vase.

"Onii-chan!" Haruhi called.

Kyoya looked up, catching the young man darting off towards his sister.

The right corner of Kyoya's mouth turned up. 'What could Susumu be hiding?'


	2. The Job of a High School Host

Susumu tried to engross himself in a new novel. It's interesting summary had tickled his curiosity, and he couldn't help but take it off the library shelf along with other high adventure books.

He had gained a chance to read when the school bell rang.

He stared at the first chapter, completely awestruck and fascinated. A sparrow was beautifully illustrated on the top right corner of the page with great attention to detail on the tail feathers.

The sparrow was free to spread its wings though unlike the sparrow, his own wings are tied.

Suddenly a vase that once stood picturesque on a pedestal flashed in his mind.

To douse more unhappiness on him, the young and wealthy Ootori boy stood at the right side of his desk with a frown on his face.

If Susumu were brave enough to look up at him, he was sure those irate looking eyes would fire two shots at him and down him.

"The deliveries were unfortunately delayed. It needs to be unloaded and prepared, which is precisely why I need your assistance," Kyoya explained. He eyed the clock hanging on the wall. "We have to conserve as much time as we can."

Susumu's eyes thinned when Kyoya expected him to follow willingly. Susumu stayed in his seat and returned to his book. He listened to a group of chatty students that thankfully blocked out Kyoya for him.

Kyoya pinched the bridge of his nose, lowering his eyes to the floor. He noticed a school bag by his feet.

Kyoya picked up the bag lying there and dropped it onto the desk.

Susumu took his eyes off his book and eyed his bag.

He gently inserted a bookmark between the creamy pages, shut it, and then slipped his book inside his bag.

Susumu slid out of his seat, as Kyoya glanced at the clock again. "We have lost some time. Hurry up."

Without an exchange of words, both boys hurriedly left the classroom.

* * *

Susumu furiously shook his head.

"As a member of the host club, you must dress up just as we do." Kyoya said, tapping the brown pen on his notebook while listening to his classmate's grumbling.

Susumu did not move. He refused to subject himself to walking around the club room without a shirt on.

Kyoya took his eyes off his work. He had to ensure every host met the conditions of today's tropical theme. There was only half an hour to spare until opening time, and his only challenge stood in front of him.

An idea clicked in Kyoya's mind like the snap of his fingers.

"You will have your first assessment today. You are required to wear the outfit prepared for you," He said, starting to write again. "Be sure to do well, I will thoroughly assess you."

Susumu stayed in the same spot, rubbing his arms.

Kyoya clicked his pen, shut his notebook and rested it on his hip. He moved closer to Susumu, bent at the waist, and glanced at him from the side.

"Do you understand?"

Susumu kept facing forward.

"You must speak when you are spoken to," Kyoya scolded. "It will not look well on your assessment if you don't speak to the guests."

Susumu nodded slowly.

"Are you quite sure you can do your job?" Kyoya asked him softly, his breath sending tingles down Susumu's neck. Susumu nodded again.

"You should change," Kyoya instructed as he straightened up to his full height. "The club will be opening soon."

Kyoya watched Susumu bolt towards the changing rooms. Opening his notebook and clicking the tip of his pen, he made jot notes of his findings. He stopped writing when he made a black period at the end of his last sentence.

He lifted his gaze upwards when he heard footsteps coming near him.

Susumu had discarded his school uniform and came out in the Bali outfit, hugging himself. Kyoya studied him, paying attention to his self conscious mannerisms. Susumu had surprisingly added a chain of Balinese flowers to his attire. He was scanning around him to make sure no one was staring at him.

Kyoya was staring. Before Susumu could realize it, Kyoya focused back on his work, but for some reason, Kyoya looked at him again.

Susumu was admiring the tropical plants. He pricked a hibiscus from a bush and carefully tucked it into his headscarf. Susumu smiled.

Kyoya discovered a smile suited him more than a frown, and wrote down his newest finding.

* * *

Haruhi knew that it is still early April, and when she glanced out the window she saw the cherry buds were still asleep. The sky has a pale blue color with not a trace of fluffy clouds. So as she stood under the tropical palm trees and surrounded by beautiful hibiscus, Haruhi mentally face palmed.

This isn't a music room any more, it was decked out like a tropical paradise.

Haruhi ignored the snake wrapping around the tree next to her, and the toucan sitting on her head.

She could see her brother was doing a good job at resisting. He is wearing a chain of hibiscus flowers around his neck and holding a basket of fruits. Haruhi looked at him in an annoyed way.

"You finally made it, Haruhi. You're so late," the twins said.

Haruhi pulled out her pocket calendar. "My calendar says it's still early spring," She said, slipping the small calendar back into her pocket.

"Huddling under a kotatsu table, fearing the cold is nonsense, and besides the heating system we have is the best," Tamaki declared and Haruhi wanted to roll her eyes.

Haruhi knew not to expect Tamaki to forget that some people have boundaries. He had draped his arm around her shoulders.

Tamaki claimed that they had turned the club room into nirvana, but she felt a massive chill sneak its way down her uniform.

"Do you have a problem with the way we run our club, Haruhi? Be careful what you say. You owe us eight million yen, remember?" Kyoya said and she saw the amusement in his eyes from watching the Fujioka siblings helplessly struggle in the Host Club's net.

Haruhi couldn't forget it. 'Onii-chan was muttering about the debt in his sleep the other night.'

Haruhi looked at the room one more time.

'Can you see this for heaven, Okaa-san, this is the club we were forced to join.

* * *

"The guests seem to be even more worked up than they usually are," Haruhi commented.

She focused her attention on the ladies squealing in delight.

She saw Susumu hand a drink with a little blue umbrella to a first-year student, and when his fingers brushed hers, the young girl's face turned pink like the color of her fruity drink.

"Showing some skin proves popular with the ladies," Kyoya stated.

"So are you the one who came up with this tropical paradise idea?" Haruhi asked.

"I have no decision making authority. All the club's policies have been laid out by the club's king, Tamaki, but I guess there's no harm in admitting to casually slipping a Bali photo book onto his desk." Kyoya smirked after he finished speaking and pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.

_'So he's the real brains behind the operation,'_ Haruhi thought, looking away from Kyoya who went back to writing in his notebook.

_'How could Kyoya-senpai have a good effect on Onii-chan?'_ She thought as she glanced back and forth between the two older boys.

* * *

Susumu tried not to break-eye contact with his two classmates seated at the table with him though he couldn't relax. Their undivided attention on him was unwanted attention. Susumu couldn't think of things to say or what to do.

Having a job like this thrust upon him in his anxious and tired state can't be done. The dark circles under his eyes basically proved he hadn't gotten any rest. Last night he stayed up and drew Haruhi's sleeping figure. She looked very calm and peaceful like she drifted off to a world of clouds.

Hearing Nozomi's cheery voice pulled him out of his daze.

"I thought you might be like the ordinary high school boy in a manga. It seems out of character for you to join the host club."

"Why did you join, Fujioka-san? If you don't mind me asking, that is." Aki asked.

"I wanted to expand my horizons," Susumu replied, but his answer was more of a lie. "I think sometimes you have to step out of your comfortable place to experience new things."

Aki leaned back in her chair with her arms folded over her chest. "I think so too."

"Yamashita-san, I noticed you like to manga during class." Nozomi looked curiously at Susumu. "Are you reading a new manga right now?"

Nozomi smiled instantly. "Yeah, I'm reading Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, it's a great shounen-ai! I really recommend it!"

"I've had to listen to her talking about it for hours," Aki sighed.

Nozomi moved behind Aki's chair and wrapped her arms around her. She smiled brightly. "You know you love me!"

"Sure," Aki sighed.

Susumu couldn't help but smile at their close friendship.

* * *

Kyoya approached the bar where Susumu was restocking his serving tray with drinks.

"Susumu, you're starting out well. You handled the conversation very nicely," he complimented the other's work.

Susumu picked up the tray and turned his back on the other.

"You received a fairly good mark today," Kyoya informed, tapping his pen on the notebook in his hand.

Susumu walked away to serve the guests.

Kyoya's glasses hid the annoyed look in his eyes.

* * *

Tamaki, alone to wallow in his thoughts, held a round ramen bowl, and then brought his chopsticks to his mouth, separated his lips, and slurped the ramen at a quick pace.

"Hey boss, why don't you stop eating that commoner's ramen and come over here to help us with the party planning?" Hikaru called.

"Does it really bother you that Princess Kasuga has taken a liking to Haruhi?" Koaru asked.

"He shouldn't be surprised," Kyoya said as his eyes were glued to his laptop screen. "She's had the illness for a while now, hasn't she?"

"What illness?" Haruhi asked.

"She's got the host hopping disease."

"AKA never-the-same-boy-twice disease."

"Usually, our customers choose a favorite host and see them regularly. However, Princess Kanako tends to change her favorites on a regular basis," Kyoya explained.

"'Cause before she chose you, she was with Tama-chan," Honey said.

"So he's upset because I took her from him," Haruhi stated, folding her arms on the table.

Tamaki dropped his cup of ramen and ran towards Haruhi. "Shut up! I couldn't care less!"

"I'm running out of patience!" Tamaki shouted. "Haruhi, it's time you started dressing like a girl!"

Haruhi narrowed her eyes at him. "Why should I have to do that?"

"I don't understand how you could be so popular with the ladies when you, yourself, are a lady!"

Susumu wouldn't listen to Tamaki's complaints, he just carried on drawing in his sketchbook.

"That's enough, Haruhi. Now you listen to Daddy. Daddy wants you to go back to the way you were!" Tamaki shouted.

"Don't go blowing up my photos without asking me first!" Haruhi shouted back.

The loud shout from his sister caused Susumu to jump in his chair. Susumu looked at his ruined sketch in disappointment before turning his attention to the group gathered in front of a framed picture of Haruhi in middle school.

"The more I look at this picture, the more amazed I am. How could this possibly become that?" Hikaru referred to how she looked when she had first met the Host Club.

"The day before school started, one of the kids in my neighborhood got some gum in my hair," Haruhi explained. "It's a real pain to get gum out of long hair, so I cut it all off. I didn't care if I looked like a dude."

"Girls should never refer to themselves as a dude!" Tamaki shouted. "Kaa-san! Haruhi's using those dirty boy words again!"

"I'm sorry, but who is Kaa-san?" Hikaru asked.

"Based on club position, I assume it's me," Kyoya replied.

"Working as a host, I can pay back more of my debt. It'll never happen if I'm just an errand boy," Haruhi stated.

"Hate to change the subject, but do you two have formal dancing experience?" Hikaru asked. "You'll need it at the party."

Susumu got worried. '_Does it affect our debt?'_

"I'm not interested in going to events, so if I could be excused?" Haruhi asked, nervously.

"Definitely not. A refined gentleman must know how to dance," Tamaki said. "If you want to live the life of a host that badly, you're going to have to show us how far you're willing to go, Haruhi-kun."

"I order you to master dancing the waltz in one week, and the both of you will demonstrate it for us at the party, or I'll tell the entire school that you're a girl, and knock you both back down to an errand boys!"

* * *

Susumu patiently waited at a table while watching Haruhi practice her dancing skills.

Haruhi stared at her feet, relying on Kanako to lead.

"Remember, the gentleman always leads," Kanako told Haruhi. "And make sure to look at the lady you're dancing with."

He only shut his eyes for a second when Haruhi fell on Kanako.

Kanako wrapped her arms around Haruhi's neck. She pulled her closer to her chest, allowing for Haruhi to feel Kanako's heartbeat.

Kanako smiled. "It's okay, Haruhi."

"Can I help you up?" Haruhi asked.

"Why will you not take advantage of your time?" Kyoya asked.

Kyoya followed his eyes and saw that Susumu planned for Haruhi to be his dance partner. "Haruhi is busy at the moment. I suggest you find another partner quickly and use up your time."

Susumu closed his eyes and 'hmmed', and then opened them again, looking down at his sketch of a sleeping Haruhi.

Haruhi and Kanako separated from each other, then they headed for a table nearby.

Susumu picked up his sketchbook and started walking towards Haruhi. He didn't notice the pair of gray eyes glaring at him.

* * *

"Put your hand on her waist like this," Haruhi instructed as she put his left hand on her waist. She intertwined her fingers with his. "You got it?"

Susumu was supposed to lead her. Although his eyes were focused on the ground to avoid tripping on his own feet. Haruhi took it upon herself to lead him, and they swayed to imaginary music.

"Haruhi," Susumu said her name nervously.

"You can't get it right in a single day, so you don't have to be so worried," Haruhi tried to reassure him.

"I don't think I'll ever get this right," He said.

Susumu tripped on his own feet and the both of them fell on the floor.

"We can keep trying," Haruhi suggested.

Susumu ruffled his hair and smiled embarrassed. "You're right. Let's do it again."

* * *

Susumu had finally gotten a chance to sit down and read his book.

His ears picked up on an announcement. "Men, it is our responsibility as members of the elite Ouran Host Club to make every girl happy!"

Susumu sighed.

* * *

"It is so good to see you here tonight, my little lambs. The Ouran Host club would like to bid you welcome." Tamaki bowed.

"As always, ladies, the host club members are here for your entertainment, so we invite you to dance to your heart's content. Based on her dancing skills, one lucky young lady will be chosen as tonight's queen. The queen's reward will be a passionate kiss on the cheek from our king," Kyoya announced.

"Good luck to you, my darlings." Tamaki winked, causing the female guests to squeal.

"Haruhi, Susumu-senpai, show some enthusiasm," The twins scolded.

Susumu timidly pumped a fist in the air.

The twins frowned at Susumu. "You could've made an effort."

"I'm not used to this sort of thing," Haruhi said. "We've only gone to the festivals held in our neighborhood park."

"I don't know if you can really consider that a party or not," Kyoya stated. "Well, since you're already here, you might as well get yourself something to eat. We've got quite a spread."

"A spread?" Haruhi repeated. "With fancy tuna?"

"Get some fancy tuna here right now!" Tamaki ordered.

The twins comforted Haruhi.

"Is there any sushi?" Susumu wondered quietly to himself, looking down below at the spread on the table.

Kyoya looked at Susumu from over his shoulder, and then he said to the caterer on the other end, "Add some deluxe sushi."

Susumu watched Kyoya during his call.

Susumu felt shivers run down his back when Kyoya looked at him as he closed his phone.

"You're welcome, Susumu." Kyoya smirked at Susumu, who turned his eyes away.

* * *

Nozomi watched her classmates from behind a pillar. She snickered.

Susumu was standing nearby, so he decided to greet Nozomi.

"Hey, Fujioka-san," She greeted him before he could.

"I saw Sugiyama-san with you earlier, did she run off somewhere?" Susumu asked.

"Aki went to dance with her boyfriend," Nozomi replied, unable to take her eyes off of Kyoya and Tamaki.

He became slightly worried after he saw blood start to bleed from her nose. "Are you okay?"

"Do you think Ootori-san and Suoh-san make a good looking ship?" Nozomi suddenly asked.

Susumu tilted his head to the side.

"Tch, tch, tch, you have too much to learn," Nozomi said while she shook her finger. "Basically a ship means you pair two people together." Nozomi pressed two of her fingers together. "To be honest, I debate with myself whether the ship is compatible or not. If the two aren't compatible," She pulled her fingers apart. "It's not going to work out."

"You've got a long way to go if you want to step into my world." Nozomi smiled at him. "I'll be your Sensei!"

Susumu raised his eyebrows.

Nozomi clasped her hands behind her head. "First lesson. Eat your way through that spread, and give your Sensei a detailed review of the food!"

He found himself finally smiling this evening. "Yes, Sensei."

* * *

Susumu nervously watched Nozomi stack more food onto the mountain on her plate.

"I didn't know you like to eat a lot, Yamashita-san," Susumu said and Nozomi looked at him.

"I'm a glutton," She admitted casually before popping sushi into her mouth.

Susumu only piled up deluxe sushi on his plate. He looked down at it and recalled who had placed the order. He muttered Kyoya's last name.

"Wait, where?" Nozomi asked with her mouth full. She returned to eating, stuffing food into her mouth, after she didn't see Kyoya.

Susumu let his eyes wander, and he witnessed Haruhi getting kidnapped by the twins.

"I need to take care of something," Susumu excused himself.

Nozomi handed his plate to him. "Take your plate with you."

"Eat it, it's fine." He put it back on the table beside Nozomi's plate.

Nozomi grinned and gathered around both plates. "Don't mind if I do."

"I will be right back," Susumu informed her. He began to follow the trio to the changing rooms.

Nozomi waved him off from the table. "I'll be here!"

When he caught up, he headed inside the room.

"A little accident towards the end of the night would be quite thrilling," Kyoya said before checking his watch. "And remember Haruhi, there are only twenty minutes remaining before the party reaches its climax. Suzushima is already waiting for you in the classroom across the hall."

Haruhi drew back the curtain and came out of the changing room wearing a pink floral dress.

"It took you awhile to get here," Haruhi complained to Susumu as she sat down in a chair.

"You have to ask him how he feels, okay?" Honey said.

The twins applied make-up to her face.

"We know this is the boss's strategy, but it's kind of unsettling," they said.

Tamaki barged into the room. "Gentlemen! Here you all are! What are you doing?" He stops himself short, his eyes widening upon seeing the young beauty, who turned to face him. He blushed at the sight of Haruhi.

"So, what do you think?" The twins asked.

Honey smiled. "Wow, you look so cute, Haru-chan!"

"My face feels heavy, and it's hard to walk in these shoes," Haruhi grumbled as she struggled to walk in her pumps.

"Good luck, Haruhi!" The twins cheered for her.

Tamaki smiled. "I can't believe she's so pretty."

"Wow," Susumu commented.

"Have you tasted the deluxe sushi yet?" Kyoya asked Susumu as he glanced down at him.

"The sushi was delicious." His gaze was cast to the ground. "Thank you, Ootori-san."

Kyoya smirked. "You are quite welcome."

* * *

"Sorry about that," Susumu apologized once he returned to Nozomi.

"S'fine." Nozomi stabbed her fork into the remaining sushi on Susumu's plate.

Susumu inspected her plate. "I'm amazed there's not even a crumb left."

Nozomi swallowed the last of the deluxe sushi.

"I'm gonna go for a second round."

Susumu snatches the plate out of her hand before Nozomi could take more sushi. "No, I think you've had enough tonight."

"Oi, gimme my plate!" Nozomi demanded.

"Please, stop shouting," Susumu says, setting down the empty plate out of her reach.

She slammed her fist on the table. "You can't tell me what to do!"

"If you keep scarfing down food like you did earlier, it'll only be a matter of minutes before it all comes back up," He stood his ground, refusing to let her reach for the plate by blocking the way with his arm.

"I won't get sick!"

"Please understand you have to slow down or you'll be sick."

"Okay, I'm touched you're thinking about me, but you're showing a completely different character right now," Nozomi pointed out, stepping away from him. "Thought you didn't care about others. I can't count how many times you've sat in the classroom and ignored me and everybody else."

"I wasn't a nice guy," He admits, quietly.

"I really wanted to talk to you, at least once."

"I'm really, very sorry."

Nozomi turned around, and leaned on the table, gripping the edge clothed in a white tablecloth. "First time I met you, I thought you couldn't talk at all."

"Really?"

"Mhmm," She nods. "I'm glad you actually decided to talk to me. It's a lot of fun getting to know someone new, you never know what they have up their sleeve. I really like those sorts of people," Nozomi gifted him with her pretty smile. "You've made me happy, thanks, Susumu."

Susumu returned the gift. "It's nothing, Yamashita-san."

"Just Nozomi. I hate using my family name," She said. "And no _san_."

"Thanks, Nozomi."

"For what?" She asked.

"You're being so nice and accepting, like Haruhi," Susumu tells her.

Nozomi giggled. "So I remind you of your brother? I'm honored. And you aren't half bad yourself. Try to show this nice guy character more often, kay?"

"I'll try," Susumu smiled.

* * *

"May this awkward couple be forever blessed!" Tamaki shouted happily as he spread his arms out, causing Haruhi to duck.

"And now we'll announce the queen of the ball," Hikaru began.

"Congratulations, Princess Kasugazaki Kanako," Koaru finished the announcement.

"And for her reward, a kiss on the cheek from the king..." "...Fujioka Haruhi will stand in for Tamaki!"

"Kyoya-senpai did say that a little accident towards the end of night might make the evening even more thrilling for everyone," The twins said as innocently as they could.

"There's no way I can kiss her," Haruhi protested.

"If you do it, we'll cut your debt by one-third," Kyoya told her.

"There's no harm if it's just peck on the cheek," Susumu whispered to her.

"But you're not the one doing this!" Haruhi shouted.

"I can't step in for you." Susumu pushed her towards the stairs.

"Don't push me, Onii-chan!" Haruhi shouted after she stumbled forward. She started walking down the steps.

"Susu-chan, is this Haru-chan's first kiss?" Honey asked.

"It is, as far as I know," Susumu answered

"Wait, Haruhi!" Tamaki shouted. He unfortunately slipped on a banana peel left on the stairs, and pushed Haruhi, causing her and Kanako to smash their lips together.

Nozomi immediately thrust out her phone and quickly snapped a photo. She giggled. "It's like a scene ripped out of a manga!"

Susumu clutched his shaking head. "How am I going to explain this one? Otou-san will definitely hold it against me."

"Hey Susumu-senpai, have you ever kissed anyone?" Hikaru asked.

He lifted his head up and looked at Hikaru.

Susumu pursed his lips, staying quiet.

The twins were interested. "Too embarrassed to admit it?"

Nozomi threw her arms around Susumu's neck. "Come on, tell us the good stuff!"

Susumu gave a soft laugh.

'Before I realized it, my wall was shattering little by little.'


	3. Operation: Conceal Haruhi's Gender

Susumu was just about to walk over and give some of his freshly baked biscuits to the guests seated at Hikaru's and Koaru's table-until he saw Hikaru lift Koaru's burnt finger and apply his lips to it, sucking on his brother's finger.

"Honestly, Koaru. You have to be more careful. Keep your eyes on me, okay?"

"Yes, Hikaru."

Susumu raised one eyebrow over the obviously fake act. The girls in range all began shrieking, and one may have almost had a nosebleed. Judging by the tired look in Koaru's narrowed eyes, Susumu suspected Koaru was just about done with this.

Susumu glanced down at the serving tray in his hands, recalling his task, and after he raised his chin and put on a smile as he approached the twins' table.

"Here, miss," he said as he placed a plate of chocolate chip biscuits in front of the young girl with bows in her hair. She found his kind gesture to be unexpected though her cheeks became rosy.

"I baked these just this morning. I'd like to hear what you think."

"Okay, Senpai." She put a biscuit on her tongue and it melted in her closed mouth.

"I want more!"

The girl with the short hair took a biscuit from her friend's plate. She smiled as she nibbled upon the biscuit.

"It's so delicious! The chocolate chip melt in your mouth!"

"Thank you," he said gratefully. As he watched the guests take one bite after another, he decided to release the thought in his mind. "I think, both of you have a smile that are as sweet as these biscuits."

One girl placed the back of her hand to her forehead and turned away. "Hikaru and Koaru genuienly love each other! And Senpai looked so bashful when he gave us his homemade sweets, look at him blush! I can't take it! It's overwhelming!"

"You have to watch this! You may never get another chance! Who knows when it'll happen again?"

"You are absolutely right, mademoiselle," Kyoya agreed as he suddenly appeared beside the two of them, holding a cherry blossom branch between his fingers. "All beauty is fleeting. Just take a look at these cherry blossoms. You'll never be able to see them this vibrant again."

"And that's why I've compiled a picture book that contains photos that capture the beauty of each passing day." Kyoya swiftly produced a photo book with the Hitachiin twins on the front cover.

Susumu gawked when Kyoya pulled out three more photo books-oddly excluding Kyoya himself-with one having of Haruhi and Susumu on the front cover.

"Incidentally, I've prepared similar books of the other hosts as well." Kyoya smiled charmingly at the two girls. "And if you ladies are interested in collecting all four of them, I'll discount the full set for you."

The two girls yanked out their wallets.

"I'll take them!"

"Me too, please!"

Susumu rubbed his eyes, hoping it was a trick of the light. He had to blink a few times to truly realize that photos of him in that book were in fact genuine, and illegally taken. Susumu was distracted by someone slapping his shoulder, and when he turned around a picture was shoved in his face.

"I was ripped off! These are filled with nothing but

"But I didn't see Ootori-san hand out a photo book of himself."

"That's my point! I need photos of Ootori-san for my photo collection, but I can't get any!" Nozomi crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. The way she looked upset made him want to cheer her up.

"Draw Ootori-san!"

Because of her pleading eyes, Susumu didn't have it in him to say no.

"You'll have to give me a reference, later." He was tackled in a tight hug right after.

"You're such a great friend, Susumu! You're the best!" Nozomi cheered.

"Nozomi, I can't-I can't breathe!"

"I love you too!"

* * *

"I feel inspired to draw these cherry blossoms," Susumu admired the pretty color scheme of the cherry blossoms. He caught the pink petals moving with the gentle breeze that scattered the said flowers all over the flower-viewing reception.

"I'd like to see that," Haruhi said as she absorbed the sweet feeling of being underneath the cherry blossoms.

"Haruhi, how are you doing? Are you having a good time?"

"Tamaki-senpai..."

"The flower-viewing reception is going over quite well," Tamaki noted, "But even so, it's rather daunting to spent more time_ being_ admired than _doing_ the admiring."

"Oh wow, Senpai, you're blooming in more ways than one," Haruhi remarked.

"You noticed! Yes, today my beauty is quite splendorous, I'm in full bloom," Tamaki agreed, sending her a flirty wink, "I bet you'll fall for me soon."

"So, Haruhi, have you chosen your electives for this term?" the twins asked Haruhi, wrapping their arms around her shoulders.

"No, I haven't," She answered.

"How about Conversational French?" Koaru suggested.

"Hmm, good question," Haruhi read the other class options.

"I think the three of us should take it together," Hikaru said. "It makes perfect sense..."

"We are in the same class," The twins stated, looking over their shoulders and flashing grins at Tamaki.

Tamaki was now crouched by a nearby tree.

"Say, Kaa-san..."

"What is it now, _Otou-san_?" Kyoya replied in a teasing tone.

"I have a new theory. I mean, it's just my hypothesis, but it seems that by being in the same class, Hikaru and Kaoru are able to spend more time with Haruhi than I get to here at the club," Tamaki told Kyoya. "This gives them a chance to get close to her, and if that happens..."

"Tamaki, you just now realized that?"

Kyoya directed Tamaki's attention to the chart on Kyoya's left that he addressed as the twins' chart. "According to my research, in a single day, the twins spend roughly nine hours of class time with Haruhi." Kyoya tapped a pointing stick on Tamaki's chart. "Meanwhile, your contact with her is limited to a couple of hours of club activities."

He turned to Tamaki and said, "In other words, your involvement in Haruhi's life each day amounts to no more than a mere three percent."

Tamaki didn't want to hear what his friend was saying, so he covered his ears.

Susumu bent in front of the chart to fix his eyes on the left chart. "There is another way, Suoh-san could always talk to Haruhi through me."

"Are you comfortable with that?" Kyoya asked.

"I'm starting to think if both of us try to get to know our schoolmates, we'll all better understand each other," Susumu replied.

Interest flickered in his gray eyes behind the glasses sitting on his nose. Kyoya snuck a quick glance at his classmate with brown hair thoughtfully looking over Tamaki's chart. Before, he turned away and ignored classmates trying to make a conversation with him, and they reluctantly left him alone. And just now he said that if others were willing to open up to him, this usually reserved boy would push past his shyness and let someone in. _'S__hatter the wall around him, so to speak,' _Kyoya thought, as he jotted down his newly discovered observations.

"You don't have to rush things, she'll be found out soon enough," Hikaru said.

"Physical exams are the day after tomorrow," Koaru reminded.

"Physical exams?" Haruhi repeated.

"That's right, I forgot all about it," Kyoya said as he continued to write without lifting his eyes off the page.

Susumu didn't expect Kyoya to forget something important. Well, he himself doesn't have a good memory, and forgot to write the date for the physical examination on the calender at home. Since physical exams are around the corner, that meant...

"They're gonna know I'm really a girl," Haruhi said.

* * *

Susumu flipped through his sketchbook with no idea on what to draw.

"Envious, Hikaru?" He lifted his eyes and spotted Tamaki holding up an index finger. "This is all part of my strategy. While you've wasted time blinded by your jealousy, I've foreseen the outcome of this charade. This fanfiction is obviously a romantic school comedy. Haruhi and I are the main characters, so that means we are love interests."

"Yeah, then what are we?" the twins questioned.

"You boys," Tamaki said as he pointed a finger at the hosts in front of him, "are the homosexual supporting cast!"

Susumu felt the color drain from his face. He held on to his sketchbook tightly, almost ruining the pages by how tightly he was gripping it. His head dropped and his bangs partly covered the fear in his wide eyes. And all that was written down in a black notebook by the dark haired host wearing glasses.

"Actually, Tamaki, your romance is merely the side story," Kyoya calmly corrected, "though you are correct in this being a fanfiction. It's intended to be a romantic dramatic story between the true main characters with a romantic subplot between you and Haruhi. It was addressed in the disclaimer."

"So, if Haruhi and I aren't the main characters anymore," Tamaki paused, "who are they?"

"What kind of romantic story is this, Kyo-chan?" Honey asked.

"It will be revealed in due time." Kyoya smirked knowingly. "Let's allow our curiosity to grow for a bit."

"Hey boss, I don't think you get it," Koaru interrupted.

Honey hugged his stuffed bunny tighter. "If word gets out that Haru-chan is really a girl, then she won't be able to be in the host club any more!" At this, Tamaki's face blanked.

"But, if Haru-chan started wearing girl's clothes, I bet she'd be cuter than she is now!" Honey chirped.

"She dressed like a regular girl when she was in middle school, right? She must've been pretty popular with all the boys," Hikaru thought aloud.

"Yeah. According to my investigative report, someone would declare their undying love to her at least once a month," Kyoya confirmed.

"Oh, I see," Koaru said. "So the boss wouldn't even be able to get close to her."

Susumu disagreed. _That's wrong. Tamaki can still spend time with Haruhi when I'm around. _He unfortunately hadn't mentioned it to Tamaki, yet.

Hikaru smirked. "But we'd be able to because we're in class with her all day long."

Tamaki didn't want to believe what the group was saying, but he couldn't shy away from the truth.

"Hey guys," Haruhi interrupted, conveniently entering the room, "sorry I'm so late."

Tamaki immediately grabbed Haruhi by the shoulders. "Don't you worry, Haruhi! We're determined to keep your secret. No one will find out that you're really a girl during tomorrow's physical exams, so please, promise you'll stay our beloved secret princess."

Haruhi blinked. "Sure."

__I said I wanted to handle our debt on my own.__ Susumu thought seriously. __I know what she said.__ Susumu was yanked over to a white board. Tamaki took charge of the operation and tapped at things written on the whiteboard. __But she doesn't need to worry about me-I can manage.__The twins saluted in response. Looking it over with a serious expression, Susumu had to step in before the discussion ended. __She set out to accomplish her own goals.__ He bravely stood behind the hosts gathered round the white board with hands placed on his sides. __I won't let my mistake get in the way of that.__Susumu took in a large gulp of air and exhaled.

"Excuse me." Susumu called the attention to himself. "I want Haruhi to be freed from the host club, and I want you to put the entire debt onto me-or I can reveal Haruhi's secret to the entire school. I promise to do that. And I never break my promises-it's my golden rule."

The twins slapped their foreheads. "He's a threat in our operation."

"How can this quiet side character have a fire in him?" Tamaki growled.

"Onii-chan, we already talked about this." Haruhi put her hand on his shoulder.

"No," Susumu raised his voice, as he shrugged her off, casting his eyes on the hosts once again, "you don't need to hide your gender because of me. You have me-I promise I'll pay it off somehow."

"That's enough." Kyoya interrupted. "Clearly the whole blame cannot be placed on you-Haruhi had made no attempt at catching the vase." Haruhi felt a lot of shame hit her. Kyoya continued, as he pushed up his glasses, "As means of negotiation, there are various art supply stores that have high quality art supplies and a stock of the best rated sketchbooks. Naturally, it's all out of your price range but if you cooperate with us, we can help." Kyoya sent a chilling smirk to Susumu. Susumu froze.

"Extinguished," The twins said together, as they made pistols with their fingers and shot at the air.

* * *

The following day, Hikaru, Koaru and Haruhi walked with their class to the physical examination.

"So, what's the deal with this formation A thing you guys were talking about?" Haruhi questioned. "What do they do during physical exams here at Ouran anyway?"

"It's no different than a physical exam you'd get at any other school," Hikaru replied.

"Yeah, why would a physical exam be any different for us just because we're rich?" Koaru added, as he walked ahead of Haruhi.

"I didn't think about it that way," she voiced her thinking aloud, as she kept her gaze on the twins, as she pushed the doors open, the rest of class 1-A following her.

"What is all this?" Haruhi asked, as her shoulders dropped slightly, finding the scene in front of her to be unbelievable. Two rows of identical doctors and nurses all greeted the students simultaneously, and began to approach select students to take them to their physical examination.

The Hitachiin twins walked past her. "Just another physical exam," Hikaru stated plainly.

"The usual," Koaru added as he looked at her over his shoulder, as he walked past her.

Two nurses approached the twins and promptly escorted them to get their heights measured, leaving Haruhi by herself. But then a different nurse approached Haruhi.

"Fujioka-sama, I'm your nurse for the physical exams this afternoon. Please, come this way." The nurse took a hold of her wrist and gently led Haruhi past the many curtains set up in the room. Haruhi stopped when she spotted Mori and Honey, wearing lab coats and odd big glasses and looking completely out of place. They both shushed her when Haruhi questioned her upperclassmen.

Kyoya appeared next to Haruhi suddenly. "I've got those two for back up just in case something happens."

"But why are they in doctor disguises?" Haruhi asked.

"They're just helping to set the mood." Kyoya adjusted his glasses before adding on. "Disguises make our operation feel like a real espionage mission."

Out of the blue, her older brother suddenly appeared behind her, catching Haruhi off guard.

"Wow, Shiramine-sam, you've lost two whole kilograms since this time last year." Haruhi overheard a doctor say to a student.

"It's so good to hear. I thought for sure I was heavier," the female student replied.

"Not at all. Keep it up, and you'll be even healthier next year," said the doctor.

"Don't you think it's weird that these doctors are so jovial and nice?" Haruhi asked.

"Their chosen by the school's chairman," Kyoya replied. "This may be a school, but it's also a business. Therefore, he wants to keep the students happy, after all, most of the students that attend Ouran Academy come from prominent families that have their own private doctors at home. So this is just a formality."

Pondering a thought, Haruhi turned around and directed her gaze to her brother pocketing his hand. "Doesn't this bother you?"

Susumu looked around at the various doctors acting friendly to and encouraging the students and let the nice atmosphere sink in. "I never felt bothered by it."

"He's been caught in their net," Haruhi mumbled, as she walked away, lowering her gaze to the floor.

When left alone together, a doctor bumped into Kyoya.

"I-I'm terribly sorry," he apologized.

"No problem."

He glanced back at the doctor. "Huh."

Kyoya looked around and noticed that Susumu disappeared on him. He sighed irritably. "Avoiding me again."

* * *

A nurse motioned towards the cream coloured curtain. "Hitachiin brothers, we're ready to do your chest measurements. You can use the area behind the curtain to undress."

Hikaru began to slip off his shirt. "Doesn't matter to me."

"We're not shy," Kaoru said as he also took off his shirt. "Who needs a curtain?"

High pitched squeals erupted in the clinic.

Some of the girls put their noses into hankies that turned scarlet red, and others waved their white hankies in the air. Haruhi stared blankly at the commotion, as a few of the female students used their phones to take pictures.

Kyoya watched the scene in front of him with a smile on his face. "See, Haruhi. A rather impressive turnout today. Physical exam day is quite popular with the ladies."

"What's wrong with the girls at this school?" Haruhi complained.

"I won't allow it." Hikaru grabbed the other's shoulders. "I won't let those doctors touch you, Kaoru."

Koaru chuckled. "You don't seem to have a problem touching me when we play doctor at home. I can't get you to stop tickling me and toying with my body."

As Haruhi failed to understand why those twins needed to put on an act wherever they went, she was suddenly pushed into a changing room.

Her body could not react in time when she found herself hitting a male student's body and his arms encircled her smaller frame.

He leaned in close to her ear, ticking her earlobe with the release of his warm breath

"I've been waiting for you, my princess." whispered the familiar voice of her Senpai in a soft tone.

Haruhi stumbled back after she was released, falling flat on her bottom.

"Tamaki-senpai," she mumbled. "A little warning would've been nice."

Tamaki fought the urge to smile at her cute pout. "Haruhi, I wanted to surprise you, not upset you."

"You did surprise me."

He smiled, "You're cute when you're surprised." At this, Haruhi's lips parted, as she looked into his violet eyes.

After Tamaki reassured her and told her to relax, he exited the changing room. But not before looking back at her with a warm smile on his face. "I promise to protect you no matter what." he promised. "Rely on me, _my _princess."

Outside of the changing room, Kyoya got pushed for the second time today.

Kyoya swiftly grabbed the culprit's right wrist with his left hand and jerked the struggling culprit backwards, as he tried to escape. "I found you."

Susumu struggled to free himself. "You told me to find somewhere to hide," he justified, as he struggled some more. Susumu was not okay with the large role he was meant to play in the operation, and Kyoya decided to use that to his advantage. No one is immune to bribery, the saying goes-now that heavy feeling of embarrassment was weighing down on him, at the memory of the sketch pencils offered to him in exchange for his cooperation, as he squinted his eyes when Kyoya's firm grasp on his wrist tightened.

"I told you to stay out of Tamaki's sight." It didn't mean he had to get angry over it.

"I am." Susumu wished his voice didn't come out so meek and timid. "But using a person for a revenge scheme is dark and devious. It's wrong."

There was a hint of a reaction on his face, and then Kyoya unravelled his fingers around the other's wrist. His left hand plunged into his pocket.

He looked away and focused on the group of ladies impatiently waiting to see Haruhi. "I can take those sketch pencils off the table." Kyoya didn't hesitate to say.

Susumu tried to recover from his mistake, stumbling on his words during his apology, "I'm sorry, but I was only being honest!"

"Fujioka-sama, it's time for us to take your chest measurement," the nurse informed. "Once you've finished disrobing, would you please come with me?"

The curtain drew back, revealing Tamaki wearing a brown wig. "I am Fujioka Haruhi."

The girls fell silent before cupping their hands on the sides of their mouths, and they all passed on whispers to each other.

"Tamaki-sama?"

"Is this some Haruhi-kun cosplay?"

"This is a joke, right?"

"If it's a joke, I'm not laughing."

The twins clutched their sides, bursting out into laughter.

"I can't believe he actually did it," Hikaru said in between laughs.

"They recognize him! I told you he'd see through it!" Koaru pounded his fist on the air.

Tamaki threw off the wig, and then grabbed Hikaru by the neck."You jerks!" He shouted in Hikaru's face. "You said there was no way the girls would be able to tell it was me!"

Hikaru held a wide grin on his face. "It's payback for calling us the homo-sexual supporting cast."

Tamaki caught Susumu at the end of his fumbled apology and shouted at him. "You strayed from your post! I had to take your place!"

Susumu had to give out another apology.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Tamaki apologized timidly to Haruhi as he poked his head into the changing room, "they figured it out."

Haruhi used __leer__on Tamaki. __It's super effective.__

* * *

Kyoya slightly draped his hand on Haruhi's shoulder. "Haruhi, I went ahead and set up a separate room for you-a special boy's clinic-and I have a doctor standing by sworn to secrecy."

"It turns out the doctors here today are all on staff at one of Kyoya-senpai's family's hospitals," Hikaru told the group.

"Would've been nice if he had said something to us earlier," Koaru said.

"I had to get my revenge too." Kyoya smiled. "I'm sorry, I just don't think I'm supporting cast, homosexual or otherwise."

Hikaru glanced at Susumu and had to ask, "You know, Susumu-senpai, it's pretty out of character for you to join forces with Kyoya-senpai."

Haruhi shook her head, as her brother struggled to form a response. She already picked up on it, and stated the only reason he would lower his wall, and do what Kyoya instructed.

"Kyoya-senpai bribed you, didn't he?" Haruhi has a smile tugging on her lips, as Susumu tries to hide the embarrassed look on his face, evidence that proved she was right.

"How did you figure it out?" He was quick to ask.

Haruhi cocked her head slightly and smiled. "I know you-that's why." Susumu couldn't disagree with her smiling face.

* * *

"Nozomi-senpai?" Haruhi asked, as she stopped walking when she spotted Nozomi waiting at the door to the special boys clinic. "What are you doing here?"

"Up till now, I've been neglected by the author," Nozomi only shrugged, "but who am I to complain? I'm just a side character." Nozomi approached Haruhi with her hands clasped behind her head and smiled. "Still, we need to have a talk girl-girl," she said as she pointed at both Haruhi and herself.

"Huh." Haruhi had to process what her Senpai had said just now. "How did you find out?"

"I've seen so many girl cross dresses anime, so I could tell right off the bat," Nozomi held a proud look on her face as she explained, as she rested a hand on her hip.

"We were looking for a room to study in, and we ended up in the music room," Haruhi explained. "Then, Onii-chan broke an eight million yen vase, and we earned a debt."

"Ah, I get it," Nozomi said, looking off to the side, and then she entered into her own thoughts. "'Cause he never seemed like the kind of guy who wanted attention."

"We went to the same middle school," Haruhi mentioned. "He was like that back then."

"Well, character development doesn't happen overnight," Nozomi stated.

"I'll be there for him when he needs me," Haruhi assured.

Nozomi draped one arm around Haruhi's shoulders. "By the way, Haruhi, your secret is safe with me." Nozomi grinned and poked the girl's cheek. "I can see why Susumu said you were nice and accepting."

Haruhi swatted the other's hand away before asking, "He really said that?"

"Yeah, he did!" And then Nozomi pushed Haruhi into the special boys clinic. "Get in there, Haruhi!"

Once back in the clinic, Nozomi spotted a girl down on her knees with students and a few doctors gathered around her.

"I'm telling the truth. One of the doctors grabbed me by my shoulder," she cried with her face in her hands. "He was trying to make a pass at me. I've never been so terrified."

Nozomi hastily jogged over to the hosts. "What's going on here?"

"Nozomi," Susumu immediately approached her and explained in his own words, "A student claims a doctor advanced on her."

"I had a feeling this might happen," Kyoya said as he cupped his chin. "A bit earlier today, I saw a strange man, wearing a lab coat, but clearly not one of our hospitals' doctors."

"Shouldn't you have said something sooner?" the twins rose their voices at him.

"Well, it's no big deal, I'm sure the security guard will catch him."

"Tell me, miss, did you happen to notice where the pervert doctor was headed?"

"Yes, sir," she nodded, "he ran off towards the special boy's clinic."

Everyone turned to stone. "Haruhi!"

"I just left her a few minutes ago," Nozomi said as she pointed her thumb over her shoulder.

Tamaki was wide-eyed. "How do you know Haruhi's a-"

"That's not important right now," Nozomi interrupted. She already had the lead on the boys. "Hurry up!"

* * *

"Tama-chan kick!" Tamaki kicked the man, launching him at the wall.

"One, good looks that attract the public eye," the twins said, glaring at the strange man.

"Two," Kyoya stepped into the light with a menacing look in his eyes. "More wealth than you can imagine."

Susumu leered at the man who had dared to touch his younger sister. "Scattering kindness upon this world."

"Chivalry that will never be able to overlook," Mori started with a deadly look.

Honey finished, as a pitch black shadow cast over his face, "The hideous wickedness of this world."

Nozomi pushed past the boys. "Finding allies in the unlikeliest of places."

"That's what makes up the Ouran Host Club." Tamaki draped his white shirt over Haruhi's head and pulled her closer to him.

"We are here! Watch out!"

The old man trembled and surrendered himself, on his knees in fear. "Please, don't hurt me! Spare me my life!"

Haruhi looked at everyone.

"And the author lets this guy tell his life story," Nozomi complained.

"I'm a doctor. I have a small emergency medical clinic that I run in the next town over. My name is Yabu," Yabu told them.

"Did he say his name is Yabu?" Hikaru asked.

"What a terrible name for a doctor," Koaru said.

The twins face each other. "Unless you're a quack."

Yabu explained what had happened to him. In short, one month ago, his wife and daughter left him because he could not manage their money properly. After being pelted by rain, and wandering the streets, he had come to the school in search of his daughter, but when he had tried to question a young lady about his daughter's whereabouts, she had screamed in fright and he fled.

Tamaki and Yabu were both sobbing.

"How awful," Susumu whispered.

"That's so tragic!" Tamaki cried, tears were pouring from his eyes.

"Doctor Yabu, I think you may have the wrong place," Kyoya interrupted. "Are you looking for Ourin public high school?"

"Yeah, that's right," Yabu confirmed.

"I figured out that might be the case," Kyoya said. "This is Ouran academy, a private institution. Your daughter doesn't go to school here."

Hikaru crossed his arms over his chest. "Man, that's pretty sad. You don't even know what school your daughter goes to?"

"I bet your relationship is messed up because you don't pay attention to her, not because of some stupid debt," Koaru said.

Nozomi scoffed. "Says the club who forced these two into a stupid debt." At that, Tamaki became baffled.

"How does she know?!" he shouted.

Honey looked up at Kyoya, impressed. "Wow, Kyo-chan, I'm impressed that you figured out he had the wrong school."

"Well, there's no way the daughter of such a small time doctor would ever be able to get into Ouran Academy." Due to Kyoya's choice of words, Haruhi glowered at him irritably.

"Kyoya, would you please find a map of all the public school in this area?" Tamaki asked, "I'd like to help this man find his daughter."

"Whatever you say," Kyoya said.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Hikaru asked.

"After all, even if he does manage to find his daughter, there's no guarantee she'll wanna speak to him," Koaru said.

"Well, that's just something he'll have to find out for himself," Tamaki said.

"I'm sorry about this, you guys, but could you please leave?" Haruhi asked.

"Haruhi, are you still angry with me? You aren't thinking of quitting the host club, are you?"

"Don't be stupid, Senpai, I've just gotta finish my physical exam, as a male student, of course," Haruhi said, "Uh, but let me explain. I'm not doing this because you're bribing me with food," She smiled at Susumu. "I'm doing it to pay back our debt."

"You're so cute, Haruhi!" Tamaki hugged Haruhi. "I can see right through you. I know you're just after that fancy tuna, but it's so cute that you're pretending."

"Cut it out, Senpai," Haruhi shouted, reaching out for Susumu's hands. "Hey, don't touch me there!"

"Red card!" the twins shouted.

"Looks like Tamaki senpai," Hikaru said.

"Is the real pervert," Koaru finished.

"Release!" Susumu struggled to pry Haruhi ought of Tamaki's hold on her.

"Who cares?! Would you guys just get out of here?!"

Urged to leave by the doctor, all those who had intruded on Haruhi's physical exam now stood outside in the corridor.

"Did anyone ever find out who the main characters are, or what kind of story this is?" Honey suddenly remembered.

The boys were all silent and Nozomi sighed, slapping a hand on her face. Her hand slid down, revealing the nasty look in her eyes. "Geez, I thought some of the readers wouldn't read the disclaimer, but not the characters. Out of everybody here, Kyoya and I are the only ones who know the truth."

Nozomi placed a hand on her hip as she looked at every boy in front of her. "I can't give you all the details, 'cause that would ruin the whole point of the suspense."

"Going to keep us in the dark?" Hikaru asked.

"That's cold, Nozomi-senpai. You could at least give us something," Koaru said.

Nozomi jabbed her thumb at Kyoya. "He brings it up, refuses to tell you, and has you guessing the entire chapter, while tkaing pleasure in it! And you say I'm the one leaving you in the dark? ..._well_, you might as well know this story is a boys love! Pretty great, right?!"

"Yaoi?!" Tamaki shouted.

"Yaoi?!" Hikaru shouted.

"Why would you read one?!" Koaru shouted.

"'Cause I like to see boys together, duh!" Nozomi stuck out her tongue.

"Fujoshi!" The three boys cried.

"You know who the main characters are, Nozo-chan?" Honey asked.

"I wasn't able to read the disclaimer, so I'd like to know who they are, too," Susumu said.

"No, Honey-senpai!"

"No, Susumu-senpai!"

"Don't ask!"

"Sorry, but their names are in the description-and I didn't read the description!" Nozomi hid her giggles behind her hand.

Tamaki sighed. "Side characters are harder to handle than I thought."

Nozomi elbowed Kyoya after she calmed down. "Like Kyoya said, we'll have to let our curiosity grow!"

Kyoya smirked."You are correct."


	4. Attack of the Lady Manager

"Haruhi! You look so cute in your kimono!"

"Almost like a girl!"

"Thanks," She said.

"Susumu-senpai, you look so handsome!"

"Thank you. I really like the pattern on mine," He said.

Haruhi's lips curled into a smile, and she elbowed him, "You like this, huh?"

Susumu let out a small laugh. "I do like this experience a little bit."

"Haruhi, Susumu, it seems you've had a pretty steady flow of new customers lately, keep up the good work," Kyoya says, stroking a brush on a scroll. "I'm not going to charge you interest on your debt like I normally keep this up, and you should be able to pay it off, although the rental fees on those kimono you're both wearing are nothing to sneeze at."

'He's like some kind of heartless tax collector...' Haruhi thought.

"Hello, Kyoya," A black-haired girl had approached Kyoya. Her friend was beside her, admiring Kyoya dressed in a kimono. "I can't get over how great you look in that kimono," She said. Her friend elbowed her in the side for being so quick to express her romantic thoughts.

The black-haired girl rolled her eyes, then focused on Kyoya once more. "Are you planning on releasing any more pictures books of the host club?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have anything planned at present, ladies," Kyoya answered, putting on a fake smile.

From the other side of the screen, the twins stuck their noses into the conversation upon hearing Kyoya.

"But doesn't the club make a lot of money," Hikaru started.

"From the sale of promotional items?" Koaru asked.

"That's true, but the items are poor quality. Those picture books were full of nothing but amateur hidden camera shots. However, if we want to make some higher quality money making products," Kyoya's glasses glinted, "I'm afraid we'd have to draw money from the school's budget."

"Well, I'll never finish my collage," Nozomi grumbled. She walked back to the table, plopped her bottom down on the plush cushion, sighed, and let her face fall into her hands. "Why does this keep happening?"

Susumu set down down a cup of steaming tea in front of Nozomi. "This might perk you up."

Nozomi smiled. "Thanks!"

He wrapped his fingers around another cup, lifted it off the serving tray, then placed it beside Aki. "Here you are, but be careful it's still hot."

Aki thanked him. She brought the cup to her lips, and sipped the hot tea.

"I'll take those amateur shots off his hands, since he'll just end up throwing them away," Nozomi said before sipping from her own cup. She sighed happily, staring into the green tea swirling in the cup, "Hey, it totally works! I do feel better!"

Susumu smiled. "I told you."

"Those pictures aren't good quality," Aki said to Nozomi.

"I know, but I want some photos of Kyoya," She told Aki, fiddling with her brown side ponytail, "Anything to fill the empty half of my wall collage above my shipping shrine."

Aki knitted her brows together. "You really need to stop making those things. I didn't like it when you made one of me and Tetsuya."

Nozomi slammed her hands on the table, leaning her body forward. "But it totally works! Because of my shipping shrine's special powers, you two are a canon ship! When the moment happens, I'm gonna be there to capture all of it!"

Rage churned inside of her, then upon opening her eyes behind her black-framed glasses, Aki glared coldly at her.

Nozomi could feel the effects of Aki's icy glare working on her. Her mouth was completely frozen shut. "Why do you keep shipping real people together, Nozomi?! When will you learn to stop meddling into other peoples' lives?! You can't force someone into a relationship, that's wrong!"

"Aki, do you need Susumu's tea to calm you down?" Nozomi asked, voice shaking, mildly afraid.

"I am calm!" She snapped.

Nozomi looked left, then right. She shrugged. "Guess Susumu ran off when you exploded. I can't blame him, you're a scary ice demon lady."

"Nozomi, shut it," Aki growled.

Nozomi used a cushion nearby to hide her face.

"Stop gripping my kimono like that. If it gets ruined, neither of us can pay for it," Haruhi complained to her brother who was using her as a shield to hide from Aki. "I thought you were getting used to talking to other people."

Susumu straightened up. "I'm still unsure about how to handle certain situations."

"I didn't know Aki-senpai has a temper. She's usually so calm."

"Haru-chan, I don't know how but I lost one of my sandals," Honey came to Haruhi for help, rubbing his eyes.

Haruhi walked to his direction, Susumu trailing behind her. "But you were just wearing them earlier, weren't you?" She asked Honey.

"Mitsukuni, I noticed you dropped it," Mori lifted Honey's foot and slipped the lost sandal on his foot.

"Takashi," Honey sniffled, embracing Mori.

"How sweet."

"Isn't it though."

"Looks like tears are popular with the ladies today," Haruhi muttered, "But how are they all able to cry so easily?"

When she accidentally bumped into Hikaru, a small item fell out of his sleeve. Haruhi picked it up off the floor. "What's this?" Haruhi asked, holding up a bottle of eyedrops.

"For your information, it's common for a host to use eye drops," Hikaru said.

"No woman alive can resist a man on the brink of tears," Koaru said.

"That's cheating," Haruhi said.

"Oh, don't be such a party-pooper," Hikaru poked Haruhi's cheek.

"There are women who don't like dishonest men," Susumu muttered.

"Hey, quit frowning," Hikaru said to him.

"Here, Haruhi," Koaru pulled out a small box containing a confectionery, and placed it in Haruhi's hand, "This is for you."

"It's for me?" Haruhi asked, staring at the box fondly.

"You're the cutest."

"I didn't know you liked sweets, Haruhi-kun!"

"Well, to be honest with you, I don't really," Haruhi said truthfully, "But, you know, I think it would be a nice memorial offering for my mother."

"How admirable of you. Such devotion to your mother's memory. Please, Haruhi, take as many of these as you like," Tamaki stacked more boxes on top of Haruhi's first one.

"Let me guess, the tears are fake?" Haruhi asked.

"How could you?" Tamaki sounded hurt, "My tears are always genuine, Haruhi. Being able to cry without the use of eye drops is the mark of a true host." He circled Haruhi, "Tell me, do I impress you? Have you fallen for me yet?"

She scoffed. "You wish."

"My romantic overtures do not seem to be reaching you for some reason," Tamaki rubbed his chin, "Perhaps I should add a little more panache to my character."

Haruhi noticed a girl spying on them from around a pillar.

"Looks like the host club has a brand-new guest," The twins walked over to the girl.

"Come on in," Hikaru invited her inside, "What are you waiting for?"

"Watching from afar is no fun," Koaru held a rose in front of the girl's face, "Please, Miss."

"Stop that. How many times do I have to tell you boys to be more courteous to our first-time guests?" Tamaki scolded them, causing the girl to jump from fright, "Please, you don't have to be afraid, my princess. I welcome you to the Ouran Host Club."

She parted her lips to speak.

"Yes?" Tamaki asked.

"No! Don't touch me, you're phony!" She cried out at the top of her voice and slapped Tamaki.

Tamaki touched the imprint on his face, and he stepped back due to the shock, "What do you mean I'm phony?"

"Just what I said, you're phony. I find it hard to believe that someone like you is the prince character of this host club," She shouted, "You shouldn't go spreading your love around so easily like that, you stupid! You must be a dim-witted narcissist! You're incompetent! You're a commoner! You're disgusting!"

"He's created a new technique! One-man slow-motion!"

Gazing at the unconscious blond sprawled on the floor, the hosts had taken their time in noticing the smile growing on the bright-eyed girl's face. It was then Kyoya turned around. He inspected the young girl from her dark-blonde hair to her black shoes. Kyoya had the most surprised look on his face. "I don't suppose you are-" He had no time to finish his sentence.

"Kyoya-sama!"

In one swift movement, the young girl had ran to Kyoya and wrapped her arms around his body, hugging him. "How I've longed to meet you! My one and only prince charming!"

Susumu stared with wide, surprised eyes.

The others were at a loss for words and the twins uttered a confused "eh?"

Nozomi glared daggers at the girl who kept squeezing Kyoya, while Aki leaned on the wall, crossing one foot over the other. She let out an annoyed sigh when she had heard Nozomi mutter she'll get rid of the girl before the end of the week.

"Aki-senpai, is Nozomi-senpai okay?" Haruhi asked.

Aki lifted up her chin. "I'd stay away. When she gets like this, she drops her cheerful personality and becomes that-" She gestured to Nozomi's gloom.

Haruhi sweat-dropped. "Will she get back to normal?"

"She's a fujoshi, a shipper, and a headache, of course she's not normal," Aki told Haruhi.

"Get away from her, Haruhi-kun," Aki warned the next minute.

Haruhi slowly retracted her hand that had almost touched Nozomi's shoulder.

...

"Fiance? Kyoya-senpai's?"

"Of course. My name is Hoshakuji Renge," She introduced herself, "And I'm transferring into Ouran Academy's Class 1-A tomorrow."

Hikaru turned his head, then raised his eyebrows. "Why is he sulking?"

Koaru leaned back on the sofa, placing his arms behind his head. "Because Kaa-san was keeping a secret from Otou-san."

Kyoya sighed, "Whatever. Why does everyone insist on referring to us like we're husband and wife?"

"Ours was a story of love at first sight," Renge placed both hands on her cheeks, dreamily imagining her "prince", "I couldn't resist the way you were adoring those flowers in the backyard when you thought no one else was looking. And how sweet it was when you reached out to that poor little injured kitten."

Susumu could keep his eyes on his book, he always can, though something burning up inside of him told him to look up and to not ignore what was happening right in front of him. Silently reading, he could still hear everything. He didn't believe it. According to his own observations about Kyoya, he's not the kindest boy in the school. A young man who looked like he could melt into the darkness, and conjure shadows from his mysterious black book to do his bidding. Susumu sees a Shadow King, a shrewd man who will strike fear into your heart.

He told himself that he would try to get to know his schoolmates and stop avoiding people in general, but its different with Kyoya. He is fearful for himself when Kyoya is near him. He tries to get away from him, like that time he disappeared on Kyoya during the physical exams. Just the way Kyoya looks at him sends shivers down his back. Susumu felt his heart beat like it was trying to jump out of his chest and run away.

"You're my real-life Ichijo Miyabi," She pointed at Kyoya.

"Uki?" Haruhi tilted her head, confused.

"Doki?" Honey was just as confused.

Susumu had lifted his head and let out a soft "huh?"

"Otaku!" Tamaki shouted.

"Otaku?" Hikaru cried.

"Hmm," Mori grunted.

"I've never seen one!" Koaru shouted.

"I get it now," Kyoya put a finger under his chin after collecting his thoughts, "You're in love with that character. You're projecting the love onto me, and you somehow deluded yourself into thinking that we're engaged. I assume this Miyabi character probably wears glasses as well."

"So, she made it up," Tamaki said, "You're not really her fiance, right?"

"Well no, I don't remember ever asking for her hand in marriage," Kyoya said, "Besides this is the first time I've ever met the woman."

Tamaki released the sigh he'd held back.

"According to my research, I understand that you are in charge managing the that true, Kyoya?" Renge asked.

"That's right. Kyo-chan is our director," Honey confirmed.

"That's perfect! Oh wow, I've always wanted to wear a sandwich board to advertise a business," Renge sighed dreamily, clasping her hands together.

"We don't advertise," The twins said, "We're just a Host Club."

Renge twirled. "I've made up my mind. From now on, I'm gonna be the manager of this host club."

"Um, listen, Kyoya," Tamaki nervously poked his head from behind the couch.

"Miss Hoshakuji is the only daughter of a very important Ootori family client," Kyoya said, knowing exactly what Tamaki was going to say, "So, please be polite and try not to offend her, all right?"

"Put that way," Tamaki sighed. He and the twins pat Haruhi on both her shoulders, causing her to flinch.

"Haruhi, this can be considered as part of our host training," Tamaki said, "This one's all yours."

Before she could decline or make a quick dash herself, the boys minus two had all dashed out of the room.

Susumu comforted her by patting her shoulder.

"I want to make some sweets for Kyoya-sama," Renge said.

"We have a baker who can teach you," Kyoya stated, guiding Renge's attention over to Susumu.

Kyoya placed his hand on Susumu's shoulder. "Failure will increase your debt considerably," Kyoya lowered his voice to ensure only Susumu would hear.

Susumu felt those same shivers run up and down his body again.

"I know some cookie recipes we could try," Susumu suggested.

"Let's bake cookies!" Renge cheered.

"But," Haruhi interrupted, "Forget it."

...

"Susumu-Senpai, can we put sugar in the cream?" Renge asked.

"Yes," Susumu answered, carrying the whisk with him as he walked around the metal counter. "How is the chocolate coming along?"

Renge smiled. "Look!"

Haruhi hurriedly grabbed an oven mitt, then took the pot of chocolate off the hot stove. "It can't be heated over a direct flame," Haruhi said to Renge, "Chocolate should be melted using a water bath."

"The cream over there, also," Renge pointed.

"Oh no," Susumu rushed to the batch of cream rising out of the large bowl. "Well, the cream is wasted."

"We have a little problem," Haruhi interrupted.

"No, no, no!" He rushed to the other oven. He snatched the oven mitts from Haruhi, grabbed the metal bar and opened the oven. He reached in, then pulled out a tray of burnt cookies. "No. These cookies are overdone."

Renge looked at her cookies. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Haruhi, check on the sugar cookies, please," Susumu forced a smile. "How do they look?"

"Edible, at least," Haruhi replied.

Renge absorbed the sugary scent wafting out of the oven. "Mmm, Haruhi-kun, they smell so good!"

"What to do about hers though," Haruhi thought.

"Susumu-senpai, I can't give mine to Kyoya-sama!" Renge cried.

"I have some chocolate chip biscuits in the oven, you can give those ones to him," Susumu suggested.

"I'd be taking credit for your cookies, is that okay?" She asked.

"You can," Susumu nodded.

Renge smiled. "Thank you, Susumu-senpai!"

Haruhi looked at Susumu. "We'd have to say something if the cooking classroom burned down."

"We have a fire extinguisher over there," Susumu pointed his thumb at the fire extinguisher on stand by.

"That couldn't put out an entire fire on its own," Haruhi stated.

"Renge-chan, please step away from the oven," Susumu quickly asked her, and she listened.

Susumu and Haruhi both sighed.

...

Renge showed Kyoya "her" batch of cookies. "Kyoya-sama, Susumu-senpai and Haruhi-kun taught me how to make commoner's cookies!"

Kyoya looked at the biscuits. "These look delicious."

"I didn't know what sort you liked," Renge admitted and then she smiled, "I hope you like it."

"Not bad," He took the batch when it was handed to him.

A light shade of pink dusted her cheeks. "You're always so sweet to me, Kyoya-sama!"

Susumu stared at the batch of burnt cookies in his hand. 'She's actually never baked before today.'

"Renge-chan, can I taste one of your cookies?" Honey asked.

Renge pinched Honey's cheek tightly. "Shut up."

Tears welled up in Honey's brown eyes. "Wah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" Once Renge had let him go, he ran straight for Susumu and threw his arms around him. "Susu-chan, it hurts!"

"Honey-senpai," Susumu stroked Honey's head while the third-year cried into his chest. He looked at Mori for help. "Look, Mori-senpai is right there. You don't have to cry, Mori-senpai is beside you."

Honey glanced up at Mori, then he hugged him. "Takashi!"

Mori smiled at Susumu.

Susumu returned it.

"I think what I made tastes pretty good," Haruhi took a bite out of her cookie.

"May I try?" Hikaru snapped off a half of the cookie still in her mouth.

"Uh oh, Haruhi, you've got crumbs on your face," Koaru licked the crumbs off Haruhi's face.

"Did you see what they just did? He took a bite-"

"And suddenly, the trio of classmates are closer than they've ever been before," Kyoya commented.

"You know, you could've just told me and I would've wiped it off," Haruhi wiped her cheek, then she faced Hikaru, "And if you wanted to try one, there's plenty here."

"That's not the way you're supposed to react, Haruhi," Tamaki shouted, placing his hands on her face, "You have to stay strong and reject them, then casually brush them to the side. Do you understand?"

"This is sexual harassment, Senpai," Haruhi said.

"Sexual harassment? If that counts as sexual harassment, then they're twice as guilty! Someone, call the police!"

"Cut it out, boss. We're sorry."

"Lukewarm. Every single one of you, except for Kyoya, all of your characters are lukewarm," Renge shouted at everybody, "Each of you needs to have some sort of 'dark side'. Girls are vulnerable to handsome young men who are troubled. If you keep carrying on like this, it's only a matter of time before the girls get tired of you and stop coming all together. Are you trying to ruin my precious Kyoya's business? As your manager, it's my duty to change your character backgrounds," Renge pointed at Honey, "Let's start with you! If all you are is cute, inside and out, then you're no different to a baby. Therefore, from now on, you are the baby-faced thug. Morinozuka-senpai, you're his childhood-friend, the flunky. The twins will be basketball players enslaved in their own world. Haruhi-kun, you're an honor student who's constantly being bullied. Susumu-senpai, you're the shyest boy in the school who has a brother complex. And as for you, Tamaki, you're the school idol who's admired for your good looks but you actually have an inferiority complex you're hiding from the world, the lonely prince.

"And Kyoya, you're perfect just the way you are now. So I want you to stay as kind and affectionate as ever, 'kay?" Renge gushed.

Kyoya placed a hand on his chest, "Thank you, I'm honored."

"The lonely prince. It's true," Tamaki said, "That title is perfect for me."

Haruhi's eyebrow twitched. "Yeah, right, she couldn't be farther from the truth."

"Come on, Kyoya senpai!" Hikaru exclaimed.

"You've gotta do something," Koaru begged.

"Why? It seems like the boss is up for it," Kyoya directed their gaze to Tamaki.

"How does this look, Renge?" Tamaki asked, striking a pose, "Do you think these poses work for a lonely prince?"

"Oh wow, you're pretty good at that, Tamaki-senpai," Renge admired, "But you know it would be even more effective if you were standing in the rain."

"Let's just wait to see how things turn out. I bet it will be interesting," Kyoya said, "It always is."

...

Susumu had his arms wrapped protectively around Haruhi, shielding her from Mori and Honey who stood in front of them intimidatingly.

"You know, it really pisses me off when people don't know their place," Honey had a dangerous look in his eyes. Suddenly his eyes started dripping tears and he jumped into Haruhi's arms. Susumu gently stroked Honey's back. "I'm so sorry, Haru-chan, Susu-chan! I can't do this any more!"

"Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! What's wrong with you?" Renge shouted at Honey, "You got to stick to the script!"

"But I can't!" Honey cried.

"Can we take a breather for a few minutes, please?" Susumu asked for Honey's sake.

"Fine! Stop rolling, cameraman!"

"Yes, boss."

Renge turned to the director. "I want the rain to make things seem tragic."

"I suspected Honey-senpai couldn't handle the scene," Susumu said, "He felt sad for saying those things to us, even though we were only acting."

"Weren't you having a disagreement with Renge about that scene earlier?" Haruhi asked.

"I tried to talk to her. She was being unreasonable," He sighed, then placed his right hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. "Emotions will keep on running high if she asks us to act out something like that again. I can't imagine what disastrous moment will happen next."

Haruhi had grabbed a towel to dry herself off. "Maybe, I could talk to Renge."

Susumu took the towel Haruhi handed to him, draping it over his head to dry his hair. "Since I couldn't get through to her, would it really make a difference if you talked to her?"

Haruhi thought about it, then answered with, "It might work."

Susumu twisted the soaked towel, causing the water to rain on the pavement. "We should wait, she looks busy."

"How'd we go from changing our characters to shooting a movie about them?" Hikaru complained.

"And why is there an entire film crew to shoot it?" Haruhi asked.

"Apparently, she flew them in from Hollywood," Kyoya gave the answer while he kept writing, "Don't you recognize the director? He directed the vampire movie, 'Millennial Snow'. It was the number one grossing box office hit in America last year."

"Damn, these rich people," Haruhi muttered.

"And another thing, how come this stupid script portrays Kaoru as the seme?" Hikaru made another complaint.

"Yeah," Koaru agreed.

"Seme?" Haruhi blinked, turning to her brother, "What does that mean?"

Susumu stayed silent, casting his eyes on the ground.

Haruhi caught on very quickly, circling around her brother to make eye-contact with him. "It's an inappropriate word, isn't it?"

"Yes," He nodded, "I unfortunately learned the word from Nozomi."

"Aren't you an ungrateful apprentice," Nozomi shouted, "I thought I taught you better."

To their surprise, Nozomi and Aki had entered the picture, strolling over to the group.

"Hi, Nozomi-senpai, Aki-senpai," Haruhi greeted, "I haven't seen you for two days. What were you doing?"

"Running around," Aki answered, crossing her arms. "I had caught her stalking Ootori-san with a camera."

Haruhi blinked. "What?"

"Nozomi-senpai-"

"Is a stalker?"

Nozomi shrugged. "When you want something done, you have to do it yourself, as they say."

"That doesn't give you a reason to follow someone around!" Aki shouted at her.

"Why were you following Ootori-san?" Susumu asked quietly.

"I needed to get that reference for you," She said, pulling out a photo. She handed it to Susumu.

Susumu took the photo, then turned it over and saw it was a good shot of Kyoya. "That'll do, right?"

"Yeah," Susumu answered Nozomi, staring at the photo, "It's good quality."

Nozomi rubbed her fist on her chest, confidently. "I'm a pretty good photographer."

Haruhi looked at the photo. "This is really good quality."

Nozomi grinned. "Don't I know it!"

The twins took a look at the photo, too, then looked at Nozomi. "Why did you take a picture of Kyoya-senpai?"

"That's between me and Susumu," Nozomi said as she draped her arm around his shoulder.

"Yeah," He agreed.

The twins grumbled, curious to know.

"We're not gonna tell," Nozomi teased.

...

Tamaki ran up to Haruhi. "Haruhi! So how was I? Did you like my performance?"

Haruho got up out of her chair. "It was pretty awesome," She handed a towel to him, "I'm surprised you were able to get into your character like that, you were really believable."

Tamaki dried himself off. "I've discovered a new, darker side of myself. I'm starting to think it might be a good idea to explore it."

"Are you sure about that?" Haruhi asked, "Because I think you're fine just the way you are now, Senpai."

"You do?" Tamaki turned red, then he looked away. "Well, if you say so Haruhi."

"Hey, Haruhi, you're on!" Renge called.

"Coming!"

Renge was located around the corner of a school building. She held out one hand to introduce Haruhi to two intimidating young men, smiling due to finding these students. Haruhi wanted to put distance between herself, Renge and the two boys, but Renge was so intent on using the them in her film, she was too blinded by her own happiness that she couldn't see how she was angering the boys. "That's when all the club members come together to fight against the real villains at their school," Renge had explained, "According to the script, these two are from a wealthy family that got their wealthy by being a part of the Japanese mafia. Don't you think that's a brilliant casting choice?"

Haruhi had tried to warn Renge.

"Just come over here and wait for your cue," Renge pulled one of the boys by the arm.

The light-brown haired guy pried Renge off his arm, "You think you can push me around? You don't even now me!" The guy pushed Renge towards the equipment leaning on the wall.

Renge braced for an impact that never came. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that Haruhi had jumped behind her and taken the full blow to protect Renge. "Are you okay, Haruhi?!"

"That guy was right, Renge," Haruhi said, covering her eyes with her hand, "You can't do that, if you judge people by their appearance, you're stereotyping them and you'll never see the person inside."

"Um, I don't understand what you're trying to say," Renge said, confused.

Tamaki and Susumu had heard the commotion and rushed to see what had happened. "What happened, Haruhi?" Haruhi turned to look at them, and once Tamaki saw those tears in her eyes, his anger overtook him. It took control of his body. He grabbed the culprit by the shirt then slammed him against the wall. Tamaki's frightening glare bore into him. "So which one of you jerks started this?"

"Wait, Suoh! It's not what you think!" The other guy stopped Tamaki, "That girl started it!"

Susumu rushed to her side. He knelt in front of her and checked everywhere on her body for injuries. "Are you okay? Where does it hurt?"

"I'm fine, Onii-chan," Haruhi tried to tell him, but she kept rubbing her eyes.

"Is it your eyes?" Susumu asked.

Tamaki got on his knees and caressed Haruhi's cheeks with his hands. "Haruhi, are you in any pain?"

"Yeah," Haruhi said, "It's my contact."

"Your contact?" Tamaki and Susumu repeated.

"Yeah," Haruhi nodded, "I guess it must've slipped out."

Tamaki stared at her before breaking out into laughter, "I see how it is. You're able to cry without using eye drops, so you're a full fledged host now!"

"I'm glad you're okay, Haruhi. You had me absolutely terrified," Susumu chuckled a little, "I'm sure my heart would stop if you were ever hurt."

"You don't have to get so worried all the time," Haruhi said, "I can take care of myself."

"I know you can," Susumu smiled.

"What matters is you're safe," Tamaki said to Haruhi.

Haruhi smiled.

"You-you-" Renge whipped around to face the camera crew behind her, "Please tell me you got that, cameraman!"

"Yes, boss!"

"Other than Haruhi's contact falling out, that was an ideal final scene!" Renge exclaim, clutching the script, "All it needs now is a movie narration by my sweet Kyoya!"

_Crash!_

They all turned around to see Kyoya had broken the camera lens.

"What'd you do to my camera?"

"What? Is something wrong? Renge asked.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I cannot allow there to be any record of a club member engaging in violence," said Kyoya, "I think you've caused enough trouble around here, Renge. Please stop being such a pest."

"A pest," Renge repeated, tears falling from her eyes.

"He's cold-hearted," Aki said bluntly.

Nozomi slapped her on the shoulder. "Shut up, this is a crucial moment!"

"But you're supposed to pat me on the head and tell me not to worry! You're supposed to be kind and affectionate, Kyoya!" Renge cried, "Why are you acting so differently, now, tell me why!"

"Because that's not the real Kyoya," Tamaki said.

Renge fell to the ground, crying.

"Does it really matter?" Regge lifted her face to see Haruhi crouched in front of her. "Who cares if Kyoya is a little different than you expected him to be. Take a good look at the person inside and get to know 'em little by little. It's a lot more fun that way," Haruhi smiled.

"You should get to know the person to better understand them," Susumu crouched beside Renge. He pat her on the head tenderly. "Don't worry, you'll find a nice guy. Maybe even in the place you least expected."

"Do you feel a chill?" Nozomi asked.

"Out here?" Aki questioned, lifting her eyebrows. "I'd roll up my sleeves, not throw on a winter coat."

Nozomi sneezed.

...

"I bought the video of that film you made!"

"I bought it too!

"And so did I!"

The hosts blinked.

"You did?" Tamaki asked.

"That scene in the rain was just phenomenal!"

"I love the lonely prince!"

"The loving relationship between Hikaru and Koaru was so sweet!"

"I kept spamming the replay button," Nozomi said, "I couldn't stop watching your scene in the rain, Tamaki. You're an amazing actor. Did you think about doing a scene with Kyoya?" Nozomi was giggling.

"No," Tamaki answered nervously.

"Kyoya-" Tamaki started.

"I may have broken the camera's lens, but the footage that we'd already shot wasn't damaged," Kyoya said, "But naturally I did cut out that one violent scene. Sales have been pretty good so far. That Hollywood film crew did a fantastic job, but then I guess that's to be expected."

"So is this what you meant by interesting?" The twins questioned.

"It's best to have as much money as we can in the club's budget."

"And just when did he start calculating all of this?" Haruhi wondered aloud.

"He hides his thoughts very well," Aki said.

"Oh, Aki-senpai, hi," Haruhi greeted her.

Aki lifted her hand in greeting. "You and Susumu were really believable in your scene."

"I never knew I could act," Haruhi said.

"It's a useful skill," Aki told her, "My older brother is a rising actor and he can't go anywhere without being recognized. My family's tried to get me into entertainment but I'm looking into a simpler profession. I'll probably major in chemistry in college."

"Sometimes simple is the way to go," Haruhi agreed, "I have my own goals for the future."

"I'd like to hear about it."

"Good day, everyone," Renge approached the hosts.

"Renge?" Tamaki was surprised to see her, "But I thought you'd gone back to France already?"

"I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner. It was so chivalrous of you to risk your life to protect me, I could feel the love when you lectured me about judging people," She took Haruhi's hands, "When you said it was fun to get to know people little by little, you were talking about me."

"Yeah," Haruhi said, confused.

Renge noticed Susumu drawing in his sketch book and walked up to him, leaving Haruhi for a minute. Susumu lifted his face when she looked at him up close. "I didn't see it before. I would've missed it if you hadn't told me I'd find him in the the place I least expected," Renge blushed, "It's you, Susumu-senpai."

Susumu flipped his sketchbook closed and moved back when Renge inched closer. Susumu tried to think of an answer. "I don't what to say."

Nozomi hugged herself, shivering due to the unexpected return of the same chilly air. "Where is it coming from?"

"Nozomi-senpai, you're shivering," Haruhi noticed, "Are you catching a cold?"

"I never get sick," then Nozomi sneezed.

Susumu jumped out of his seat when she tried to grab his arm. He picked up his sketchbook and moved away from her. "Renge-chan, Ican't leave right now, I need to work on a commission."

"Want to spend some time together later?" Renge asked.

"Maybe."

"Okay!"

Renge took Haruhi's arm.

"Come on, Haruhi, let's go to my house and play some games together!" Renge dragged Haruhi along, "I think it's time you got to know me better."

"Hey, Kyoya-senpai," Hikaru got his attention.

"You okay with that?" Koaru asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Kyoya said, "Everything Renge said it true."

Nozomi sneezed.

"No it isn't!" Tamaki objected.

"But I thought you were the one who wanted her to have a female friend in the first place," Kyoya said.

"Well, yeah, a female companion," Tamaki argued, "Not a _girlfriend_!"

"Come on, Haruhi!" Renge exclaimed, "Let's go play together!"

"No, wait! Don't take Haruhi from me!" Tamaki chased after them.

Nozomi sniffled. "Do you know why it's so cold in here, Kyoya?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. The room temperature is warm," Kyoya answered.

Nozomi shivered.

"Perhaps, you have caught a cold," Kyoya said.

"I never get sick," Nozomi said for the second time.

"I can brew you a cup of cocao," Susumu suggested, "It's sure to warm you up."

"Susumu, make me cocoa!" Nozomi ordered.

"I'll have to get the ingredients first and-"

Susumu was hugged from behind, preventing him from leaving.

"Yay! You're such a good friend, Susumu!" The second after she embraced Susumu, Nozomi sneezed, twice this time.

"Nozomi, if you feel sick, you should go home," Susumu said, concerned.

"I never get sick!"


	5. The Twins Fight

"I'm sorry, ladies. I didn't offer you anything to drink," Susumu apologized as he passed out cups of tea to the girls. He put each cup beside the sweets he'd placed down earlier, and used the trick he picked up from Tamaki to keep the tea from sloshing in the cup as he set it down.

"You don't have to apologize to us, Senpai. You were busy," said the guest with curls in her hair.

"How are you feeling today?" Another guest asked, before sipping her tea.

"Well, like any other day, I feel tired," Susumu said, setting down a plate of strawberry cake for the first-year. "But this morning, I got to see the sunrise."

"It must have been pretty."

"It was beautiful. There were shades of red and orange painting the sky, and the clouds looked soft and fluffy," Susumu described, smiling to himself.

The second girl had closed her eyes and smiled, picturing his sunrise. "Wow, it's so beautiful."

"Watching the sunrise with you would make me so happy, Senpai."

"I'm happy as long as I can see you ladies smile." Susumu smiled at them, causing both girls to blush.

"Susu-chan, we need more tea!" Honey called.

Susumu turned around and called back he'd be coming in a minute. The ladies waved him off, and Susumu rushed to the unattended cart. He set the teapot down, then took the cart to where Honey was waving him over.

"Thanks, Susu-chan!" Honey thanked, as Susumu refilled Honey's teacup.

"Here you go, Mori-senpai." Susumu poured tea into Mori's cup, and Mori thanked him.

"Do you need anything else?" Susumu asked.

Honey shook his head. "Nope. We're good on cake right now, but maybe later."

"We're finished," One of their guests told Susumu.

Susumu picked up both guests dirty plates and returned to the cart. He noted he'd have to clean the dishes after stacking the tray and plates on top of the used ones.

Susumu grabbed the cart's handle bar and wandered around the music room. He looked out for any guests who would ask for more snacks or tea.

"Hey Susumu!" He'd heard Nozomi calling him.

He picked up the pace and pushed the cart in Nozomi's direction.

"You're busy as usual," Nozomi said, as she pulled out a chair, and sat down.

"Yes, I'm the only one serving the guests," Susumu said, as he set the tray down on the table. "Haruhi probably buried herself in her studies again."

"You know, she's a lot like Aki, she's too focused on her education," Nozomi said, as she leaned her elbows on the table. "Aki's studying with Testuya right now. You'd think the two of 'em could think of a better idea for a date. Have you gone on a date before?"

"I was too focused on my schoolwork to think about dating," Susumu said, holding the teapot's lid as the hot tea was poured into Nozomi's cup. "What kind of cake today?"

"You choose, I'm not picky," Nozomi said, resting her cheeks on her palms while she watched him.

He placed a chocolate cake down for her with strawberries on the side, and placed a fork on top of a folded napkin.

Nozomi brought the fork to her mouth and ate the frosting before the chocolaty inside.

"Let's all play the which one is Hikaru Game!"

Susumu and Nozomi, with the fork in her mouth, glanced at the twins who had both donned caps.

They were facing their guests with grins on their faces. "So, can you tell which one of us is Hikaru?"

"Well, it's hard to say!"

"You're identical!"

"Many ladies have tried to tell us apart, but so far none have succeeded."

"That's the dumbest game I've ever heard of," Haruhi said, as she walked past the twins. She carried her textbook, obviously coming back from the library.

"What? You got a problem with it, Haruhi?" The twins questioned.

"Not really," Haruhi replied. "I just don't understand why the two of you are so popular."

The twins pouted. "That's not very nice."

"Haruhi, you're late!" Nozomi shouted at her.

Haruhi's eyes scoped the room until she saw Nozomi shaking her fist at Haruhi.

"Susumu had to do your work!" Nozomi shouted again.

"Don't worry about it, Haruhi!" Susumu shouted.

"Can you two not shout at me from over there?" Haruhi shouted back at them.

The twins rested their elbows on Haruhi's shoulders. "I'm disappointed-" "Apparently, you don't understand the merits of having a pair of twins as members of the host club."

"Listen up. Having a couple of good-looking guys with homosexual tendencies earns the club high points. It also helps that the two struggle between their attraction and their friendship," Hikaru said.

"Really," Nozomi said, suddenly very interested, holding her chin.

"And in our case, because we're twins, our relationship is taboo and therefore more intriguing," Koaru added.

"And besides, who hasn't fantasized about twins? Having two loves is better than one, don't you think?"

"It's a young woman's romantic fantasy," Koaru said, lifting a girl's chin.

"Well, um, yeah, you're right! I can't take it!" She squealed.

Tamaki ran up to the twins.

"Hikaru, Kaoru!" Tamaki shouted. "When I gave you control of the club's website, I did it so on one condition that you take it seriously!"

"We take our job very seriously, boss," Hikaru said.

"In fact, last night we worked on it till dawn," Koaru said.

"Is this what you worked so hard to create?!" Tamaki shouted. He shoved a laptop in their face, and on screen was a shirtless Haruhi with her hands rested on her hips.

Haruhi gaped at the half nude photo of her.

"You look great, Haru-chan!" Honey exclaimed.

"They spared me," Susumu sighed happily with a hand on his chest.

"That's obviously photo shopped," Nozomi said.

"It was photo shopped?" Tamaki asked, turning his head to Nozomi.

"Definitely, 'cause if Haruhi was ever shirtless, I'd have a picture," She confirmed.

"Since when did you take pictures of me, Nozomi-senpai?!" Haruhi shouted.

"It's my hobby!" Nozomi shouted back.

"She's shown me a few," Susumu mentioned. He put a hand on his forehead as he remembered when Nozomi had shown him pictures of Tamaki and Kyoya on her phone one day.

Haruhi shot Nozomi a glare, who grinned, feeling no guilt for what she'd done.

"We did a pretty good job, huh?"

"We've got some major photo shopping talent."

"You idiots! That's a waste of your skills! Have you no shame?" Tamaki scolded, then he suddenly pulled out a photo book of models in frilly clothes. "But if you're going to do it anyway, can you photo shop her into this idol photo book? Hmm, please?"

"Don't be ridiculous, boss. Why don't you just-" Hikaru started.

"Ask her if she'd wear an outfit like one of those?" Koaru finished.

"I never thought to ask her." Tamaki went to Haruhi, holding a frilly flowery dress. "What do you think about this, my dear?"

"What are you doing with that dress?" Honey asked.

"He looks so handsome."

"Yeah, he does, but I have to agree with Tamaki. I'd love to see what Haruhi looked like if he dressed as a girl."

"Oh, he's so cute. I'm sure he'd look great no matter what you put him in."

Haruhi snapped out of state, glared at Tamaki, who cried, and walked away.

"Now, cut it out. No more making weird pictures of got that?" Haruhi snapped, glaring at the twins. "Just what do you guys take me for, anyway?"

"Isn't that obvious?" The twins smirked. "You're our toy."

"Haruhi isn't your toy!" Susumu raised his voice at the twins. "I don't want to hear either of you call Haruhi that again!"

"You want a toy?" A voice asked. Haruhi, Susumu, and the twins glanced at the cloaked boy poking his head through a crack in the mysterious door. "If you like toys, then you should come and visit my black magic club. We've opened a marketplace that boasts black magic items from across the globe. We're also holding mass around the clock. If you visit right now, I'll even throw in a free curse doll. You could have Belzenef as your free gift."

"Why is he talking to us through a crack in the door?" Haruhi wondered.

"Why doesn't he come here?" Nozomi wondered.

"Wait a second," The twins said. "Has that door always been there?"

Kyoya explained, "Nekozawa-senpai likes to hide. He doesn't really care for brightly-lit places."

"From the shadows, he emerges," Nozomi said, as she put her hands on her hips.

"Don't get involved with that guy, Haruhi," Tamaki whispered in a ghostly tone, scaring Haruhi, who didn't notice him. "If you do, you'll end up being cursed."

"Do you have any basis for that?" Haruhi's voice was shaky.

"It happened during final exams at the end of the last school year," Tamaki said, beginning his story. "Oooh, it's terrifying just to talk about it. On that fateful day, I accidentally stepped on that weirdo Nekozawa's cursed doll, Belzenef. Afterward, I took my exam and the entire test was written in some strange lettering. I looked at the others around me for help and I realized I knew none of them. I was all alone in a different dimension."

"Scary!" Honey cried, using Usa-chan to hide his face.

"Did that really happen to you?" Haruhi asked.

"It couldn't have happened, right?" Susumu asked, a little shaken up.

"That only happened because you were so scared you accidentally walked into the beginning Greek class and took their exam," Kyoya explained.

"No! It was a curse!" Tamaki shouted. "I know because three days later, I woke up and my legs were as heavy as lead! Just how do you explain that?"

"Your legs were heavy because you ran a marathon the day before, remember?"

"You've got an explanation for everything, Kyoya," Nozomi remarked.

"It's all in his head," Kyoya said, as he wrote in his notebook. "He was never cursed."

"You shouldn't underestimate the dark powers of Belzenef, the curse doll," Nekozawa said, sneaking up behind them. "All you have to do is write the name of someone you hate on his back, then that person is certain to come face to face with misfortune."

"Wow, this guy really is dark, in more ways than one," Hikaru said.

"Supposedly he hates bright lights. I wonder what he'll think of this," Koaru said, smirking deviously, as he held up a flashlight, and flashed the light on Nekozawa.

"You murderers!" Nekozawa cried, running cowardly to the door, and into his club room.

"How on earth could you do such a thing?" Tamaki shrieked. "Obviously the two of you don't know the true terror of black magic!"

The twins walked past Tamaki. "I am so bored."

"Isn't there anything fun we can do around here?"

"My dignity as the club's leader is being ignored," Tamaki sulked, causing Haruhi to sweat drop.

"Hey Haruhi, Susumu-senpai, we've got a favor to ask," The twins called in a bored manner.

"What is it?" Haruhi asked, having enough of their antics.

"The next time we get a day off-" "Can we come over to your place to hang out?"

"Why do you want to visit our place?" Susumu asked.

"We're curious. We want to see where you live," The twins answered.

"No way," Haruhi rejected.

"Aw, pretty please?" They begged.

"No way," Haruhi repeated, wearing an emotionless expression. "You guys are just gonna make fun of us."

"No matter how much we beg you?" The twins persisted.

"No way," Haruhi said firmly.

The twins looked at Susumu.

"No," Susumu said, shaking his head. "Having guests over means we'd have to clean the whole place, and prepare a large meal. I'm sorry, but I don't want to go through all that trouble."

"I too have been thinking that it's about time I pay my respects to our beloved Haruhi and our sweet Susumu's family," Tamaki said.

"No way in hell, Senpai," Haruhi said.

"We can settle this with a game," The twins said, placing their green caps on their heads. "If you can't pick out which one of us is Hikaru, then your penalty will be the two of us coming to your house later tonight."

"What did I say?" Susumu said, crossing his arms over his chest.

But the twins had already switched places many times before stopping. "Okay, so which one of us is Hikaru?"

Haruhi pointed to the twin on her left and said, "This one's Koaru-"

"And this one's Hikaru," Haruhi finished, pointing to the twin on her right.

"Uh oh, you got it wrong!"

"No, I know I'm right," Haruhi said, facing the liars. "You guys may look alike, but you're very different." The twins blinked in surprise.

"How did you do that, Haruhi-kun, whenever they wear those hats to cover up which way they part their hair, it's practically impossible to try and figure out which twin is Hikaru and which one is Koaru," A guest said.

"How can you tell them apart?" Another guest asked.

"Well, how do I put it?" Haruhi thought it over, putting a finger under her chin. "It's kinda difficult to explain, but Hikaru's speech and actions make him come across a little more mischievous than Koaru."

Koaru burst into laughter. "I'm sorry, Hikaru, I don't mean to laugh!"

"Well, I don't see what's so funny. I'm honest, I speak my mind and I don't hold back. It's sneaky people like Kaoru who are the trouble makers," Hikaru said, causing Koaru to stop laughing.

"Don't turn this on me, Hikaru," Koaru argued. "After all, I'm the one who's always going along with all of your selfish games."

"I may suggest them, but you are the one who really gets into them, Koaru," Hikaru shot back. "If you hate it so much, then why don't you just stop?"

"Because I'd hate to see you make an ass of yourself in front of everyone," Koaru answered, glaring at his brother. "It was your idea to call Haruhi our toy, but I noticed you were quick to make a pass at her. Admit it, Hikaru, you're actually in love with Haruhi, aren't you?"

Hikaru's face turned red, and he glanced at Haruhi, who was confused after hearing it.

"You've got it all wrong, Kaoru!" Hikaru protested. "Man, you're such a freaking idiot! Why would I fall for her? I mean, she looks like a tanuki!"

"Don't call my sister a tanuki!" Susumu shouted with fists at his sides.

"Awesome, this is just perfect." The motor sound erupting in the room drew peoples' attention onto Renge who showed herself, spinning on the platform. "Our beloved Haruhi is in the middle of a beautiful, yet poignant four-sided romantic relationship. And to make it even more exciting, two of Haruhi's admirers are twins, torn apart by love."

"It'll be interesting to see how this four-sided romance plays out. Which love interest will win Haruhi's heart, and which will crumple at the sight of Haruhi in the arms of another, the choice is left up to the author. And the best part about this story, one of the main ships is boy on boy. I just can't wait until we find out who the main characters are. They can't escape what's destined to come true." Nozomi went into a fit of giggles.

"Just the thought of it all could make me eat three bowls of rice," Renge exclaimed.

"Butt out Otaku and Fujoshi," The twins snapped.

"You guys are meanies!" Renge cried. "You shouldn't say that stuff to your manager!"

"I was thinking about pairing one of you with Haruhi, but winning Haruhi's heart, forget about it!" Nozomi shouted, glaring at them. "I'm sure the author has a ship planned for Haruhi and it's definitely not with one of you!" Nozomi grabbed Haruhi and embraced her. "You don't deserve this cutie!"

"Nozomi-senpai, let me go," Haruhi requested, struggling to break out of Nozomi's hold.

"But Renge, I thought you had feelings for Haruhi, as well?" Tamaki asked.

"Oh, I do," Renge said. "But I have no problem with Haruhi having a homosexual relationship on the side."

"What about Susumu?" Nozomi asked, still hugging Haruhi.

"My feelings for Susumu-senpai will never change," Renge said, smiling at Susumu.

Suddenly Nozomi felt a freezing cold near her, causing her to sneeze. Haruhi took the chance to slip away from Nozomi. Susumu put his hand on Nozomi's forehead, but his action was followed by a sneezing fit from Nozomi.

"You don't have a fever, but maybe you should go home for the rest of the day," Susumu suggested.

"You might actually have a cold, Nozomi-senpai," Haruhi said worriedly.

"No, guys, this isn't a normal cold. I know, 'cause this kind of thing has been used in anime. When a character sneezes they're talking about someone or they're sensing something bad is about to happen," Nozomi told them. "It's gotta be that. I'm sensing something."

"Cut it out, already!"

The three of them focused on the twins again.

"You're the one who's always crawling into my bed! Talk about annoying!" Hikaru shouted.

"I only do that 'cause you look lonely!" Koaru shouted back. "I wouldn't choose to sleep in your bed, you idiot!"

"Who are you calling an idiot?! You're the one who sucks at math!"

"Oh yeah?! Well, you're the one failing your foreign language class, you big dummy!"

"The way you grind your teeth is definitely-"

"At least I don't toss and turn so much that I fall out of bed!"

"Sex pixie!"

"Sicko!"

"Your Okaa-san wears too much make-up!" They shouted at the same time.

"That's it! We're over!"

...

Haruhi, caught up in shuffling through her notes, and refreshing her mind on yesterday's lesson, didn't notice that Hikaru had walked up to her, until he greeted her, causing her to look up at him. Haruhi was surprised to see Hikaru with slicked back hair, colored the brightest shade of pink. The entire First-Year class noticed Hikaru.

"Hikaru," Haruhi said, staring at him with her eyebrows raised, and wide eyes. "What in the world happened to your hair? Why is it dyed _pink_?"

Hikaru put one hand on his hip, and he grinned, eating up the attention. "'Cause pink suits me, don't you think it's cute?"

Haruhi would've told Hikaru no, that it made him look like a flamingo, but she kept her mouth closed.

"From now on, I'm the pink-haired twin!" Hikaru said, gloating over his new appearance. He would not be mistaken for Koaru any more, because Koaru had walked in with his hair dyed blue, slicked back like Hikaru. The pink-haired twin narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"Good morning, Haruhi," Koaru greeted her, walking up to Haruhi's desk.

Haruhi glanced away from the twins, and looked down at the papers on her desk, rubbing her forehead to ease her sudden headache.

She muttered, "This is a wonderful start to my day."

"I was finally able to sleep all by myself last night, but I ended up having a nightmare," Koaru said, drawing Haruhi's attention to him. "I dreamt that my hairstylist had dyed my hair pink. It was so garrish and ridiculous-looking, I woke up screaming."

Koaru had been laughing to himself, as he pulled out his chair, but Hikaru extended his leg, and kicked the chair, causing Koaru to fall on the ground. Koaru retaliated by pulling the leg of Hikaru's chair, causing Hikaru to fall on the classroom floor. The twins began to throw whatever they could get their hands on.

Haruhi groaned, sliding down in her chair.

...

By noontime recess, the twins' fighting had only escalated. In the refectory, the twins were at the counter, standing side by side, and each twin held a tray in his own hands. "I'll have the A lunch," The twins ordered at the same time. "No, give me the B pasta and the D salad! I'll take the F capellini with the barbarie duck! Hold on, make it a foie gras in perigueux sauce!" They glared at each other. "Stop copying me! Why don't you just leave me alone?!"

"Amazing. Perfect unison even when fighting," Haruhi muttered to her older brother.

"When will they stop fighting?" Susumu wondered.

"They don't seem to be letting up any time soon," Haruhi said, she then followed up with a groan.

"I was wondering what all the fuss was about," Tamaki said, causing the pair to turn their focus to the Host Club members, who had all walked in the refectory. "I can't believe the two of you are still fighting. You're a disgrace to the Host Club."

"Hey, look who it is!"

"Oh, I love them!"

"I've never seen them all together like that."

Hearing the students whisper about the Host Club, Haruhi let out a sigh, truly not surprised by just how popular the Host Club was at Ouran. She was more annoyed, really. Every student knows them, and almost every female student fawns over them, but it all depended on the type of host, of course. Haruhi used to wish there was a student who is sensible and level-headed, like her, or is hard working and honest, like Onii-chan. She thought that person must be hiding in the sea of overindulged, pampered and obnoxious, out-of-touch rich kids. But Haruhi knew better than to make impossible wishes.

"We've had enough of this. You're both to blame for this fight," Honey stepped in to try and stop the fighting. "Hika-chan and Kao-chan, I want you to make up and go halfsies on this cake, 'kay?" Honey stared at the strawberry cake in his hands. "But I want to have a piece too. So I guess we're going to have to go thirdsies. We're not going to be able to split the strawberry on top, though. What should we do? Maybe I should just take it. After all, strawberry is all my favorite. Oh, I forgot to ask," Honey glanced up at both twins. "Hika-chan, Kao-chan, do you like strawberries?"

Mori picked up Honey, and carried him away.

"You're just making it worse," Mori told Honey, who was fonding over the cake. "Leave them alone."

"Oh, Haruhi, Susumu! I didn't expect to run into you two in the dining hall!" Tamaki exclaimed once he'd noticed them.

"We were worried about those two, so we followed them here without even thinking," Haruhi said, looking down at her bento, and Susumu held his own bento with his sketchbook and a pencil was tucked behind his ear. "We always bring a bento, and I was just going to eat mine in my classroom."

"I don't care if my bento is in an embarrassing heart-shape, I will eat it!" Tamaki shouted, seemingly in his imagination.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but it's evident that your fantasies are completely incoherent," Kyoya said, picking up his lunch.

"Kyoya, Susumu, over here!" Nozomi called out, waving them over to the table where she sat.

"You need to see the portrait of you that Susumu is drawing," Nozomi said, as Kyoya sat next to her.

"I saw you taking those pictures of me," Kyoya said, sounding slightly irritated.

"How else do you think I could've gotten a half body reference of you?" Nozomi questioned.

"He doesn't have to see it if he doesn't want to," Susumu said.

"I've seen your art skills before, and I must say, you should have the title of professional artist," Kyoya complimented, locking eyes with Susumu.

Susumu felt surprised, and happy that Kyoya gave him a compliment. He stared at Kyoya, causing the corner of Kyoya's lip to tug upwards. The handsome young man was not wearing his cold smile or his chilling smirk. He had interest in his eyes.

Susumu looked away from the Host Club's Vice President, with a faint hue of red in his cheeks. "I've been putting it aside for a while, so it's not done," Susumu said, pushing his sketchbook away from them. "Besides, Nozomi, it was only meant for _you_ to see."

"Haruhi, you wanna sit here with me?" Hikaru asked Haruhi, as he sat at the table near the three second-years.

"Uh, okay," She said, as she sat down.

"So what's that?" Hikaru asked, pointing at her bento. "What'd you bring for lunch?"

"Yesterday's leftovers and a rolled omelette," Haruhi answered.

"You wanna switch with me?" Hikaru suggested. "I had to order something different than Kaoru, so I ended up with stuff I don't really like." He'd already switched their lunches.

"That's fine with me," Haruhi said, then she looked down at the lunch tray. 'This is really magnificent. I've never tried anything like this before,' She thought before taking a bite. Haruhi blushed.

"Well played, Hikaru. As a reward, I'd like to trade you my lunch for your bento," Tamaki offered.

"No way," Hikaru rejected.

"Come on, trade with me," Tamaki urged.

"Forget about it."

"So, Haruhi, is that any good? How would you like to taste mine?" Koaru took a spoonful of chocolate pudding, and lifted Haruhi's chin. "Here. 'Aaah'."

Before the pudding went into Haruhi's mouth, Hikaru ate it.

"Quit butting in. Get lost, Koaru," Hikaru's voice was mumbled by the spoon in his mouth.

Incredibly annoyed, Koaru picked up a plate and threw it at Hikaru, who'd used Tamaki as a shield, forcing him to take the food to the face. They threw things at each other again like this morning.

"I think I'm gonna go eat in my classroom, after all," Haruhi said, picking up her bento and escaping.

Meanwhile, Nozomi and Kyoya were still prodding Susumu.

Nozomi waved her fork at Susumu. "You should be nice and let Kyoya see it!"

"May I see it, Susumu?" Kyoya asked, with amusement flickering in his eyes.

Susumu ate his rolled omelet, ignoring them, and he also tried to ignore the blush on his face that became more noticeable.

"Susumu, by any chance, did Haruhi make your bento?" Tamaki asked, standing beside Susumu.

"Haruhi did cook dinner last night," Susumu said, showing his bento to Tamaki. "Do you want to try some?"

Tamaki quickly drew a chair and sat next to Susumu.

"I'll give you a bit to start," Susumu said, placing the leftovers on the side of Tamaki's plate. "Tell me if you want more."

"Thanks, Susumu," Tamaki said. When he put the fork in his mouth, trying Haruhi's cooking for the first time, Tamaki's eyes were filled with happiness and his heart was fluttering.

"Do you like it, Tamaki?" Susumu asked.

"Haruhi's cooking is delicious!" Tamaki exclaimed.

"He said your first name!" Nozomi practically squealed.

"Because we're friends, now," Tamaki said, draping his arm around Susumu's shoulders.

Nozomi covered her nose with a napkin when she suddenly felt a sneeze coming on. The others didn't seem to notice, Tamaki and Susumu fell into a deep conversation about cooking and commoner's food, and Kyoya was silently eating his lunch.

Nozomi eyed Kyoya suspiciously. Sure, he's unimaginably intelligent and cold as ice and constantly has his nose stuck in his black notebook-Nozomi often wondered what he wrote in there-but she never suspected the freezing cold that causes Nozomi to shiver and sneeze, as if she had an actual cold, was coming from Kyoya.

Shocked, Nozomi stared at Kyoya with wide-eyes. Kyoya shot Nozomi an irritated glare, causing her to quickly look the other way, but Nozomi peered at him from the corner of her brown eyes, and caught Kyoya staring irritatingly at Susumu and Tamaki.

'He's jealous!' Nozomi squealed internally. She then put on a determined face. Without her meddling with the story, she felt the main characters-who turned out to be the Shadow King and the art student-would never end up together. Nozomi did already have a ship for Kyoya, which she swore she'd never give up, but this one looks more intriguing, and they're an inevitable ship.

"Kyoya," Nozomi whispered to him.

"What?" Kyoya growled lowly.

Nozomi fought her urge to hide. The Shadow King, as she'd heard the hosts call him, is much colder than the ice demon lady, but she has to step in and get Kyoya and Susumu to warm up to each other. Nozomi worried for a second that Susumu might get scared off by Kyoya's evil side, but if Susumu can befriend Tamaki-'good luck, Susumu,' Nozomi thought-he can be with Kyoya.

"Try giving Susumu some of your lunch. He's never eaten fancy food before," Nozomi suggested.

"What would be the point of that?" Kyoya asked.

He'd given her a cold glare, and Nozomi shivered, but she smirked when an idea came to her mind. "Hey, Susumu. Kyoya wants to give you something."

Susumu turned his head, and surprisingly, he saw Kyoya set down a plate in front of him. "You shouldn't let this opportunity slip from you," Kyoya said calmly. "Why not take a bite, and see if it suits your taste?" Kyoya glared at Nozomi, who looked away, before he faked a smile and rested his hand on his palm, and watched Susumu try the food.

"This is really good. I never tasted anything like it before!" Susumu savored his next bite, and the next, until he let out a satisfied burp. He then sheepishly smiled, covered his mouth with a napkin and looked away.

"It's good, right? I want you and Haruhi to eat like that every day!" Tamaki exclaimed, tears falling from his eyes.

"I'm sure Haruhi would like that," Susumu said, in between laughs.

"It was kind of you to let me try it, thanks," Susumu said, turning to Kyoya, and smiling a big, genuine smile.

"You don't have to thank me, but I'm glad if you enjoyed it," Kyoya said, smiling in return.

'So freakin' cute! I won't ship them! I won't ship them! Arghhh! I ship them!' Nozomi squealed in her head, as her nose started to bleed, causing Susumu and Tamaki to sweat drop, and Kyoya smirked at Nozomi.

Nozomi noticed, and she mouthed 'you owe me one.'

...

"Looking at the numbers, if this situation isn't resolved I'm afraid we're going to have to stop offering our brotherly love package," Kyoya said. "We're down one pair of loving brothers."

"Oh, Haruhi, I just want you to know there's no reason for you to feel responsible. Even though it was your tactless comment that started this whole feud between the twins in the first place, right?" Kyoya smiled.

"Clearly he blames me for this," Haruhi muttered to herself.

"It's weird for Hika-chan and Kao-chan to be fighting like this," Honey said, lifting his Usa-chan's arms up and down. "It's never happened before."

Mori nodded.

"Is this really the first time they've fought?" Susumu asked.

"I've known Hika-chan and Kao-chan since we were in preschool. We weren't in the same year, so I never really got to talk to them," Honey said. "But I remember that the two of them always played together."

"Yeah, that's true. I mean, I've only known the twin since they were in middle school, but they definitely stood out," Tamaki said. "It seemed like they kept everyone at a distance except each other. Believe it or not, they were even more warped back then. When you stop and think about it, maybe this fight is a good thing for them. Maybe it means that the twins are expanding their horizons a bit. We should just leave them alone and let them work it out."

"Why do you guys have to look so down? There is another way to keep the homosexual love in the host club," Nozomi assured. "The twins' brotherly love is off the table, but we can find the main characters and have them use their true love to draw in the customers. We could make it the 'boys love' package. I know I'd jump at the chance to see their love up close."

"I don't want to crush your hopes, Nozomi, but you should know the identity of the main characters hasn't been uncovered yet," Kyoya informed. "That rules out the option of offering a boys love package."

Nozomi slipped back into her chair, with a playful smile on her face.

"We might not have to turn down her suggestion," Tamaki said. "We could put it aside for now once we've found out who they are. They might decide to join the Host Club. We'll just have to ask them."

"I like your thinking, boss," Nozomi agreed. "We'll make 'em join us!"

"I didn't mean it in that way," Tamaki said.

"Nozomi, what do you mean by _us_?" Susumu interrupted.

"I've become a reoccurring character, and I like all of you, so I'm going to stick around, and treat myself like I'm a member," Nozomi declared, standing up, with a bright grin on her face. "I don't want to be left out."

'And I definitely wouldn't wanna miss all the action when Kyoya and Susumu fall in love,' She thought, which lead to another giggling fit.

...

"Do we have to put them in the same room?" Nozomi complained. "It's a war zone in here!"

"Don't you guys think that maybe it's time you give up all this fighting?" Tamaki asked. His patience was wearing thin. "It's driving me insane."

"What'd you say? It's driving _you_ insane?!" Hikaru shouted. "You've gotta be kidding me. How do you think I feel right now? Every time I look in the mirror, I see his face. I'm sick and tired of constantly being mistaken for you, Kaoru! The truth is I hate your guts!"

"You took the words right out of my fact, I hate you so much I bought this, Belzenef, the curse doll," Koaru said, pulling out a Belzenef doll that scared Tamaki. "I'm going to complete the curse, Hikaru. I'm going to write your name on his this day forward, you're going to experience nothing but misfortune and sorrow!"

Haruhi ran up to the twins and punched their heads.

"Would you guys knock it off?" Haruhi shouted, causing all to be still.

"You don't bring something like this into a petty fight," Haruhi scolded, taking the doll in her hand. "Both of you are at fault here but what's really sad is that you brought everyone else around you into your big mess! Now apologize to each other! If you don't make up right now, I'll never let you come over to our house. Have I made myself clear?"

"So then what you're saying, Haruhi, is that if we make up, we can come over to your place?" The twins asked, as they circled Haruhi.

"Damn, those twins," Nozomi cursed.

"Huh?"

Nozomi tapped Haruhi on the shoulder. "Haruhi, turn it over."

Turning it over, Haruhi immediately screamed once she saw _'blank'_ written on its back.

"I'm sorry, Koaru. Even though I was just following our script, I said such awful things to you," Hikaru apologized. "I'm not fit to be your brother."

"Don't say that, Hikaru," Koaru protested. "I was so worried. I couldn't live with myself if I ever thought I had hurt you."

"Koaru, I'll never let you go again!"

"Hikaru!"

"You gotta be kidding! You mean you guys were faking it this whole time?" Honey exclaimed, as he flailed his arms.

"And this is why I want the main characters to be a part of the host club, so they can take attention away from those two devils!" Nozomi shouted.

"We didn't have anything else to do," The twins said. "We were bored."

"They fooled me," Haruhi muttered.

"Tamaki, I want to ask you something," Susumu said, as he crouched next to him.

Tamaki looked up at Susumu. "Yes?"

...

"Okay, it's time to play the which one is Hikaru game!"

"I know, the twin with the pink hair is Hikaru," A girl guessed.

"We have a winner!"

"So are you two gonna keep your wild hair color even though you've made up?" A guest asked, "It's much easier to tell the two of you apart now."

"No, it isn't," Haruhi said, passing by them. "Today, the pink one is Kaoru, and Hikaru's the blue one. You swapped colors for today, huh?"

'Do you realize what's happened, Hikaru? Until now, there were only two groups of people, "us" and "everyone else." But for the first time, someone's crossed into our world.'

...

Susumu pushed his cart past Kyoya, who was focused on transferring the words onto the pages in his notebook. Kyoya's hand kept moving and his eyes stayed glued to his notebook, as he called out the boy's name, "Susumu."

Susumu stopped in his tracks, freezing on the spot. He felt a chilling sensation rush down his back and he slowly turned his head, facing his bespectacled classmate.

Kyoya clicked his pen and closed his notebook before walking up to Susumu, carrying his notebook in one hand. "I wanted to let you know that you are doing far better than I had previously expected. Talking to others has brought out your personality."

Susumu suddenly remembered something, and he'd begun to poke around the cart, causing Kyoya to raise his eyebrows. He found what he'd been searching for, and revealed a bento.

"This is a thank you for letting me try your food. I asked Tamaki and he told me you like anything spicy," Susumu said, holding it out for Kyoya to take, who stared unblinkingly at the kind offering. "I also gave one to Nozomi and Tamaki. Haruhi found it weird when I asked her to make Tamaki's bento in a heart-shape." A smile came to his face. "I hope you like it."

Susumu cast his previously gleaming eyes on the ground, when Kyoya did not take the bento.

"It would be rude of me not to accept a generous offer when you went through the trouble of making it," Kyoya said, stopping Susumu from leaving by placing his hand on Susumu's shoulder. "I will at least try a bit to determine the level of your cooking ability."

"That's not necessary, Kyoya. I'll be happy just knowing you tried my cooking," Susumu said, smiling, as he passed on the bento to Kyoya.

Kyoya masked his surprise by putting on a smirk, as he watched Susumu pick up his feet and walk away, taking the cart with him.

Kyoya decided to ignore Nozomi hiding behind the pillar and carried on.

...

"Here, Senpai," Haruhi said, shoving the bento into Tamaki's hands.

Tamaki blinked and looked down at the bento. "This is for me, Haruhi?"

"Well, yeah, who else would I have given it to?" Haruhi sighed. "Don't let this go to your head. Onii-chan told you tasted my cooking and liked it, so he asked me to make something just for you. To be honest, I didn't mind, but he wanted me to make it in a weird heart-shape." Haruhi put her hands on her hips and looked into Tamaki's eyes. "Did you actually ask him to do this?"

"No, I had no idea," Tamaki said truthfully.

It took a minute for Haruhi to believe him. She turned her back to Tamaki. "Well, this kind of thing won't happen often, believe me."

"Thank you, Haruhi!" Tamaki exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Haruhi, while still holding the bento.

"Senpai, let me go!" Haruhi shouted.

1


	6. Grade School Host is the Naughty Type

"Kaa-san, I wanna join your club," Nozomi whined, causing Kyoya's brow to twitch.

"My answer will stay the same," Kyoya said as he leaned back in his desk chair.

"You owe me one, Kyoya," Nozomi reminded him. "You gotta let me be a part of the Host Club."

"I don't recall," he denied.

"You'd agree if I told you I could be the Host Club's photographer and you wouldn't have to pay me." She followed up with a knowing smile. "I also got dirt on you that I'd be glad to tell the others."

'I was going to keep it to myself, but to hell with it,' Nozomi thought as she watched Kyoya straighten his posture and eye her like they were doing business, which they actually were.

"What are the conditions I should be aware of?" Kyoya asked.

"There's a photo shoot every two weeks and I release the monthly cosplay photo book, I decide the poses, and I'm allowed to take photos when activities are running." Nozomi listed, counting off with her fingers. Then she put her hand on her hip. "That work for you?"

"I have my own conditions," Kyoya said as he pushed up his glasses. "You must supply the equipment yourself, and pictures of our guests are prohibited."

"Yes!" Nozomi cheered, pumping her fist in the air.

...

"Move a little to the left, Haruhi," Nozomi instructed, holding the camera up to her eye.

"Is this good, Nozomi-senpai?" Haruhi asked after in the desired position.

"Hold the pitcher a little lower," She instructed, lowering her hand.

Haruhi adjusted her grip on the water pitcher, placed her other palm underneath and lowered it. "Is this what you want?"

"Yeah, that's perfect, Haruhi," Nozomi approved.

Nozomi requested Mori to rest his hand on the sword attached to his belt, and Honey to squat next to the sofa that Tamaki took over, he was instructed to lie on his side.

"You two look good!" She complimented the twins.

The right corner of Nozomi's lips lifted after she focused the camera on Susumu. "Susumu, move closer to Kyoya."

Susumu knocked elbows with Kyoya. He sent Nozomi a nervous look. "Isn't this too close?"

'Not close enough,' Nozomi thought, she held back a grin.

"It will be fine," Kyoya whispered to Susumu, his eyes looking down at him.

Susumu gave Kyoya a kind smile. "Okay."

Nozomi gave them all a thumbs up. "We're ready!" She took the picture.

...

A young boy turned the handles attached to the set of double doors. He then stumbled back and fell on his derrière after he was greeted by the sight of gentlemen dressed in Arabian outfits.

"Oh, it's just a kid," Hikaru said.

"Not only that, it's just a boy," Koaru added.

The blonde-haired young man was seated on a couch, surrounded by his fellow hosts.

"What's wrong, little boy? Did you come to my palace in search of something?" Tamaki asked.

"Are you the king of this place?" The boy asked Tamaki as he stood up.

"Come closer, lost one." Tamaki beckoned the young boy over to him with a wave of his hand. "What was it you just called me, little boy?"

"The King," he repeated.

"The King! Yes, I am the King of the Ouran Host Club! Long live the Host King!" Tamaki shouted happily.

"Long live the King!" Nozomi cheered as a grin spread across her face.

"I'm an Elementary Fifth Year, Takaoji Shiro," said Shiro. "I want the Host Club King to take me on as an apprentice!"

...

Nozomi had her eyes through the camera lens as she scoped the room. She adjusted the focus. "Shiro-kun is a little too close to Tamaki. I can't photograph him like that."

"Don't you think it's weird he's making the kid observe him up close like that?" Haruhi asked.

"There is a theory that people are considered more beautiful the closer they're viewed," Kyoya said. "Tamaki seems to live by that theory."

"Well, let's leave them alone." Kyoya turned his eyes away and wrote in his notebook.

"You naughty girl, you've drawn me to the forbidden fruit," Tamaki said to his guest. "Dearest, you're the mermaid who's brought light into my lonely sea. My mermaid princess." He delicately cupped her chin.

"I remind you of a mermaid?" She asked.

"You look more like the carp that swim in my pond at home," Shiro said. "I'd never give false compliments like that."

"Carp!?"

"Oh don't listen to him. He's just a kid. You know how kids are, they can't help but be honest." Tamaki attempted to console her.

"Honest!?"

"But that's just his opinion and I wouldn't say you look like a carp. And even if you did look like a carp, you'd be the most beautiful carp of them all." Tamaki attempted again, but he failed miserably for a second time when his guest pushed him away from her.

"So I am a carp!"

"That's not what I meant-"

Her feet took her outside of the club room. "Tamaki, you're an idiot!"

After his guest ran out, Tamaki turned and growled at Shiro.

The twins laughed. "That's an adorable little apprentice you got there."

"Hikaru, do you wish you had a little brother like Shiro-kun?" Koaru asked.

"Don't be silly." Hikaru pulled his brother into an embrace. "I could search the globe and I'd never find a better brother than you, Kaoru."

Their act made two young girls' faces turn pink.

"Forbidden brotherly love!"

"It is _fake_ love," Nozomi corrected after she took a picture of the twins, to her displeasure.

"They're homos and they're brothers!" Shiro shouted, his hand gripping the edge of the table. "That makes them totally insectuous!"

"I think what you meant to say was incestuous," Tamaki corrected.

"Hey Shiro-chan!" Honey jumped onto Shiro's back. "You wanna have a piece of cake with me? We've got three kinds, chocolate, strawberry, and lime!"

"Hey back off!" Shiro shouted as he pushed Honey off. "What grade are you in anyway? Why are you wearing a high school uniform?"

Before Shiro could get any answers, Mori approached. "Something wrong, Mitsukuni?"

"That's not fair! A little kid like you isn't supposed to have a cool older friend like him!" Shiro shouted. He moved away from Mori and Honey, but in doing so, he bumped into Susumu, who was carrying a tea tray.

"Careful there, Shiro-kun." Susumu said to Shiro after balancing the tea set. "Ah, surprised by how unusual everyone is? I was also taken by surprise when I had heard they did these sorts of things. It took me a while to adjust."

Shiro took a step back as he clutched his chest. "Are you a homo, too?"

Susumu smiled nervously at Shiro.

"Well, are you?!" Shiro stressed.

"Do you think you could help me carry this?" Susumu asked.

"I'll be careful."

"Okay. It's a bit heavy." He handed the tray to Shiro, but Shiro's hands slipped and he dropped it, causing the tea set to shatter.

"It's not my fault I dropped it." Shiro looked up at Susumu. "It's your fault, 'cause you're the one who made me take it in the first place!"

"You said-" Susumu held back, giving up on trying to reason with Shiro. He bent down to pick up the broken shards, but just as his hand reached out for a shard, someone else placed their hand on top of his.

His eyes met with Kyoya.

"Susumu, that's another 100,000 yen." Kyoya smirked at him.

Heat rushed to Susumu's cheeks.

At the sound of a flash, Susumu pulled his hand from under Kyoya's hand and jumped back up, in dire search for their newest photographer. He heard a loud noise, causing him to turn his head, and he saw Shiro trapped in a cage.

"Where did it come from?" Haruhi wondered as she looked over her shoulder. "This is supposed to be a music room, right?"

"This is no way to treat your loyal apprentice!" Shiro shouted. "Now let me out of this cage!"

"Not until you've learned your lesson," Tamaki said before he brought a cup of coffee to his lips and took a sip. "I made you my apprentice because I thought you were serious about becoming a host, but I guess I was wrong."

"I am serious! Totally serious! I want you to teach me how to make a woman happy!" Shiro dropped to his knees as his hands gripped the iron bars. "I'm gonna run out of time. Please won't you teach me?"

"Run out of time?" Susumu repeated, looking in young Shiro's direction.

"You're a host because you like girls. You like bringing a smile to a girl's face. That's why you do it, right? Please won't you teach me to be like you," Shiro begged. "You're a genius at it! You're the king!"

Moved by Shiro's words, Tamaki jumped out of his chair.

"Well, you may be a brat, but I admire your desire to become a host, so I'll teach you!" Tamaki said with enthusiasm. "You know, Shiro, you and I are so much alike!"

"You poor kid," Haruhi and Nozomi said together.

"Then, you'll help me become the kind of host that can make any women happy?" Shiro asked.

"Of course. Making women happy is the sole purpose of being a host," Tamaki said. "If this is what you really want, Shiro, then you'll have to figure out how to use the material you already have."

Shiro looked at Tamaki in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"You see, here at the Ouran host club, our policy is to use our individual personality traits to meet the needs of our guests," Kyoya explained. "For example, there's Tamaki, who is the princely type."

Tamaki, the bearer of the white rose, appeared next to Kyoya.

"There's the strong silent type."

Mori, the bearer of the dark blue rose, stood on the other side of Kyoya.

"The boy-Lolita."

Honey, the bearer of the pink rose, stood in between Kyoya and Mori, hugging Usa-chan.

"The little-devil type."

Hikaru, the bearer of the blue rose, wrapped an arm around the shoulder of his twin brother, Koaru, the bearer of the orange rose, who did the same.

"And the cool type. It's all about variety," Kyoya, the bearer of the lavender rose, continued. "And now our group is complete with the addition of Susumu, the nice guy, and Haruhi, the natural."

"The natural?" Haruhi, the bearer of the red rose, repeated, pointing at herself.

"I guess it suits me," Susumu, the bearer of the peach rose, agreed, as he stood in between Haruhi and Kyoya.

"And the Host Club's photographer," Nozomi, the bearer of the yellow rose, cut in, finding a place on Tamaki's right side.

"It would seem that right now we have a perfect blend of characteristics, so it's going to be difficult to find a new type for Shiro," Kyoya finished his explanation.

"If you go by his age, he should be the boy-lolita type," said Hikaru.

"But Honey-senpai's already got that covered," Koaru disagreed, as he shook his head.

"Is he going to replace me?" Honey asked with hurt in his tone.

Nozomi folded her arms and scoffed at their attempts. "You can do a better job than that."

"Is that all you got?" A voice asked before there came the sound of a powerful motor.

"What's up with this place? It's supposed to be a music room!" Haruhi shouted, as she, including all the boys and Nozomi, watched Renge come up from the ground, posing ridiculously on a rising platform.

"Sorry to interrupt gentleman and lady, but what's with the lack luster character analysis?" Renge sighed. "I must say, I'm quite disappointed. I thought I taught you better."

"All right then, Miss Manager, how would you work Shiro into our collection of characters?" Tamaki asked. "He can't be the boy-lolita because Honey's already got that covered."

"You just don't get it, do you?" Renge snapped. "Now listen up! There are plenty of girls out there who have a thing for younger boys or boys with baby faces. These girls would be considered Shota fans. Now Shota can be a very broad category, so it's important to know that the genre can be broken down into many different smaller sub-categories."

The group payed close attention to her explanation. "For example, Shota fans with an interest in lolita boys would favor a boy like Haninozuka-senpai, but this little boy is I had to pick a character for him." Renge pointed at Shiro. "Yes! He'd be the naughty boy type without a doubt!"

"The naughty type?" Shiro repeated, as the cage was lifted.

Renge spent a large amount of time training Shiro to become the naughty-boy type. The hosts helped in the training process, while Nozomi and the Fujioka siblings watched in worry for Shiro. Susumu put a fist on his mouth when Shiro fell on his face, as instructed by Renge.

Tamaki clapped after the training was over. "That was outstanding. I never knew you were such a great coach, Renge."

Renge laughed.

"I've had enough of you people!" Shiro suddenly shouted. "This is so stupid, none of this is ever gonna help me make her happy."

Nozomi blinked, her mouth opening slightly. "Who's _her_?"

"Wait, Shiro," Tamaki called out to Shiro, who was running away. "We haven't taught you how to apply the techniques you've learned yet!"

"I swear younger boys are good for nothing. I went to all that trouble to coach him, and he quits." Renge went back underground.

"I can't believe he ditched us because he didn't like the lesson, what a selfish little brat," Tamaki grumbled.

"There aren't many people who would enjoy that kind of lesson," Haruhi said.

"Did anyone to pay attention to what he said? Shiro said he didn't have much time," Susumu recalled. "What could he have meant?"

"He also mentioned a _her,_" Nozomi added.

Haruhi put her foot in to the discussion. "I think that, maybe, it's a girl."

Tamaki looked back at where the young boy had once been.

...

"All right men, it's time to initiate our mission," Tamaki announced.

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked.

Honey tilted his head. "What mission?"

Nozomi hung her head. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"I've assessed the situation. We'll infiltrate the elementary school," Tamaki said, before turning his eyes to them. The hosts, except for Susumu who was reading a book off to the side, looked at the three with evil glints in their eyes. "You three are going in."

...

"How did we let them talk us into this?" Haruhi whispered.

Nozomi huffed. "I should have bolted immediately."

"It'll be okay, Haru-chan, Nozo-chan. It was so easy to sneak in," Honey said. "And wearing this uniform, I really look like I'm in elementary school."

"I get why they wanted you wear an elementary school uniform. It totally makes sense 'cause of your height, and you fit right in here," Nozomi said.

"What I don't understand is why they made us dress up in these middle school uniforms," Haruhi said.

"This skirt is too short," Nozomi complained, trying to tug the mini skirt lower.

"Why did we even bother with disguises?" Haruhi grumbled. "We stick out like a sore thumb."

"Oh there's a reason, a damn good reason," Tamaki whispered from a crack in the door.

Honey guided the girls down the hall. "This way Haru-chan, Nozo-chan!"

"Isn't she the cutest?" The three gushed over Haruhi.

"Check out Nozomi-senpai's legs." The twins admired Nozomi's slender legs with smirking faces.

"Haruhi looks like a little doll!" Tamaki blushed.

Susumu's arms crossed over his chest. "That's enough. Please stop looking at them in that way."

"We were actually considering having you in Nozomi's place," Kyoya said to him, causing Susumu to shoot him a surprised look.

Susumu laughed nervously. "I wouldn't be able to pull it off with my height."

Kyoya put his eyes on Susumu right before he said, "It would have been interesting to see you dressed up."

Susumu looked away, trying to hide the warmth on his face.

Meanwhile, Honey lead the ladies to Shiro's classroom. "This is it, Shiro-chan's classroom. When I was in elementary school, this was my classroom, too!" Honey ran off.

Haruhi brushed her hand on a desk. "There's nobody here."

"So, the kid's classroom is empty, is it?" Tamaki said.

"This sure takes me back," The twins said, walking into the classroom first.

The boys flooded into the classroom, one trailing after the other.

"I wonder if doodles are still on my desk," Koaru said.

"Doubtful. The school changes out the desks every year," Kyoya said.

"Let's check out the cafeteria after this," Hikaru suggested.

Koaru nodded. "I want to see the old gym."

"Good idea, Koaru." Tamaki said, smiling.

Haruhi saw Nozomi was getting annoyed, her hand balled into fists. Haruhi, herself, was visibly annoyed.

Nozomi shook her fist at the boys. "I'm sure you perverts were enjoying the view!"

The twins whistled innocently.

Susumu suddenly heard footsteps. "Someone is coming." He, Haruhi and the rest of the group, crouched down, using the desks as cover.

"If the teacher finds us-" Koaru started.

"We'll have a hard time explaining why we snuck in," Hikaru finished.

Nozomi put a finger to her lips, shushing the boys. "Shut up."

"Just keep your lips zipped." Haruhi mimicked zipping her lips. Not each gentlemen copied her, only the three young men, Tamaki, Hikaru and Koaru, who were blushing due to cute young brunette.

Susumu poked his head from the doorway, watching whoever it was walk pass the classroom. As he was doing that, Nozomi spotted a wall of framed pictures. She turned and swept her hand, motioning for Kyoya and Honey to follow her.

He signaled to his sister it was all clear. Haruhi nodded before turning to the other boys. "It's all right. He's gone," Haruhi informed them. "But you guys, we came here to get the scoop on Shiro-kun, so what do you think we should do now?"

"Well, here's something interesting," Kyoya said, once he'd taken a look at the pictures on the wall. The rest of the Host Club walked over to them.

"What did you find?" Haruhi asked.

"Look at this." Nozomi pointed to a picture of Shiro seated at a piano with a little girl watching him play.

Haruhi looked closely at the photo. "Hey, that's Shiro-kun."

"So he's in the classical music club," Kyoya muttered.

"I'm sure Shiro-kun is great at the piano." Susumu then smiled softly. "He looks so sweet here. He should smile more often."

"Yeah," Tamaki agreed.

...

The Host Club watched an entire scene play out between Shiro and the girl from the picture. She was now seated at the grand piano, playing beautifully. Shiro had a peaceful smile on his face as he listened to her.

"Pardon me, mademoiselle," Tamaki said, as a girl walked out the room. "I've never seen a rose more lovely than you, my dear. Here, this is for you." Tamaki gave a rose to the little girl. "I was wondering if you could tell me anything about that young lady playing the piano. Do you know her?"

"That's Kamishiro Hina-chan," She answered.

"Her name is Hina-chan?"

"That's right, but you better not fall in love with her."

"Why?" Tamaki asked. "Didn't you know? Hina has to move away soon. Her dad just got a new job in Germany, so they have to move there at the end of the week."

"What do you think you're doing!?" Shiro shouted, stomping into the hallway. "I want you idiots to leave immediately!"

Tamaki lifted Shiro off the ground and threw him over his shoulder. "Put me down! What are you doing?!" Shiro's eyes widened slightly when he saw Hina come out into the hallway. "Let me go! Just put me down!"

"It's time to go, gentlemen," Tamaki ordered. He walked away with the host club following him. "Quit thrashing around."

...

Tamaki threw Shiro onto a couch. "What is your problem, you big idiot?!" Shiro shouted at Tamaki.

"I'm sorry, but you're the idiot!" Tamaki shouted back. "You said that you wanted me to teach you how to make women happy, but that's not it, is it? You're not concerned with the happiness of just any woman. You've got your sights set on one woman in particular. You only care about one, and that's Hina Kamishiro!"

Shiro's eyes widened.

Tamaki put a hand on his pocket. "But I'm afraid, there's nothing I can do to help you with that. Listen, Shiro. I know that I told you it's the job of a host to make women happy, but when you care for someone, you must find the courage to express what is in your heart. You have to tell her how you feel about her."

Tamaki looked Shiro in the eyes. "You didn't come to me looking to become a full-fledged host. You want to be a full-fledged man."

Shiro hung his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. I've run out of time. I just-I wanted to hear her play before she left for good, that's all."

"That piece she played, it's Mozart's sonata in D major for two pianos, isn't it?" In the darkly lit room, Tamaki turned and walked towards a curtain. He pulled it back to reveal a beautiful grand piano.

"Wait a minute. Since when is there a grand piano in here?" Haruhi asked.

"Well this is a music room, after all," Koaru said.

"So why wouldn't it have a grand piano?" Hikaru added.

"It_ is_ a music room, after all," Kyoya said.

"Instruments _are_ stored in music rooms," Nozomi added.

"It is a music room," Mori said.

"It's always been there. We've just had it covered up," Honey said before taking a forkful of his cake.

Susumu did not like to draw or read in the dark, so he simply listened to Tamaki play the piano. A peaceful smile came to his face as he was swept away by the music.

...

When little Hina opened the door, the hosts were there to greet her. "Welcome, Princess. We've been waiting."

"I present to you Shiro Takaoji's piano recital," Tamaki announced, he guided Hina over to Shiro who sat at one of the two grand pianos.

Tamaki pulled out the other seat for Hina. "If you please, Princess."

"Let's play together, Hina," Shiro said, his smile returning.

Hina blushed and smiled. "Okay!"

Shiro blushed, before looking down at the piano keys, then he started to play alongside Hina.

"We did a good thing," Tamaki said.

Haruhi looked up at Tamaki. "He loves with all his heart, so I guess that's one more way Shiro takes after you, huh senpai?"

Tamaki smiled down at Haruhi. "Why yes, I'd say so."

Susumu smiled. "When I see love like that, I can't help but feel happiness inside my heart."

"Have you experienced it before?" Kyoya asked.

"To be honest, I never tried to fall in love." Susumu lifted his eyes when he felt a slender hand drape over his shoulder.

"It is said love comes from the most unexpected places," Kyoya told him.

"It might not happen to me."

Kyoya took a hold of Susumu's chin, lifting his eyes to meet his own gray eyes. "It might."

Susumu felt warmth rush to his cheeks and Kyoya smirked.

Susumu shut his eyes tightly, and when he opened them again, Kyoya moved away and pulled out his notebook. Susumu put his hand on his heart.

...

"So you've been exchanging e-mails with Hina-chan everyday now that she's in Germany?" Haruhi asked as she poured the tea.

"Yeah, more or less," Shiro answered. "I like her, but she can get pretty jealous for an elementary school girl. She'd be upset if she knew I was with you ladies, so let's keep this our little secret."

"Oh! Oh, isn't he the cutest?"

"I wish I had a brother just like him."

"Naughty boys are the best."

"I could kiss you." The two guests that sat on either side of Shiro kissed him on both cheeks.

"You brat, what are you doing?! Those are my guests!" Tamaki shouted at Shiro.

"Well, it looks like they've found someone they like better." Shiro snickered. "It's so easy to steal your customers. I think there's a new host king in town."

Susumu stepped in to refrain Tamaki from lashing out in anger.

Koaru sighed. "I thought he'd make it through without exploding this time."

Hikaru shrugged. "We should have known he was going to blow up sooner or later."

"I guess Shiro-kun is a lot like Tamaki. He's messing around with the ladies," said Nozomi.

"I get the feeling that Senpai was also a spoiled brat when he was a kid," Haruhi said, causing Nozomi to snort.

"I was not a spoiled brat! I was nothing like him when I was a kid!" Tamaki protested. "I was a sweet, innocent, precocious adorable child! Do you hear me!?"

...

Nozomi was looking through her collection of photos she had developed when Kyoya walked up to her.

Nozomi covertly gave the photos to Kyoya and he tucked them into his notebook.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you." Nozomi took Kyoya's hand and shook it, as she grinned. Kyoya pulled his hand away.

Kyoya pushed up his glasses. "This will be kept between us."

"Sure, Kaa-san, if it means I never miss the action." Nozomi held up her camera, and she adjusted the focus. "I'm off to take more." She waved farewell to Kyoya as she walked away.

Kyoya gazed fondly at the half body shot of Susumu.


	7. Jungle Pool SOS

**New Note: So I'm going to go back to the old chapters to make them sound like my current style of writing, and also modify a few things to match the current storyline. ****It might take me a few weeks, but I'll still be releasing the next chapter very soon.**

**Old Note: I saw some readers down in the comments wanted juicy romance. Well, I happily delivered! Drink all the juiciness, and quench your thirsts, my friends!**

* * *

"We're still in Japan, right?" Haruhi asked.

"Trees like these aren't normally found in Japan," Susumu noted.

"Behold, Haruhi," Tamaki said, enthusiastically, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Bask in the beauty of tropical birds. Aren't they breathtaking?"

Tamaki looked up at the birds nestled on top of the palm trees. "I wonder what they're called."

"Um, where was the exit, again?"

"Try to make the most of this down time and just relax," Tamaki advised, picking up his fruity drink, "We're so worried about keeping our good looks day and night, we deserve a little vacation." Tamaki brought the rim of the cup to his lips and took a sip, smiling after tasting the pineapple and mango.

"Where are we, Tamaki?" Susumu asked him, who had decided to lounge on a chair under the cover of an umbrella and enjoy his drink.

"This place is a brand new theme park that my family, the Ootori group runs." Susumu looked in the direction of the familiar voice and saw Kyoya, who was lounging on a chair and held some sort of tropical fruit drink in his hand. "It's called the Tropical Aqua Garden," He informed them.

Haruhi looked at Kyoya in a puzzled manner. "I don't understand. I thought the Ootori group ran hospitals, and that they're focused on the medical business, Kyoya-senpai."

"Yes," Kyoya answered, "but my family likes to diversify and try different things. Besides, this place could be classified as a healing facility."

Haruhi hummed, doubtful of what he said.

"It's therapeutic. Think of all the people who are overworked and would just love a vacation in the south tropics. However, they may not be able to get the time off or they may not be able to afford it. Those people can now seek refuge here at this theme park and reduce their stress levels." Kyoya pushed up his glasses and smiled at them. "The Ootori group's primary concern has always been for the good health and well-being of the general public."

"It sounds suspicious to me," she grumbled.

Susumu put his hand over his eyes, focusing his eyes on the sky, and stared in awe at the birds perched on the branches of the tropical trees and the exotic plants filling the air with new, unfamiliar scents.

"I can't believe we were given the chance to be here," he said.

"This park doesn't officially open until next month, but the Host Club was given a special advance invitation."

Susumu turned back to Kyoya with a soft expression, as he lowered his hand and placed it into the right pocket of his shorts. "It was nice of you to invite us, Kyoya," he thanked, "Thank you."

Kyoya glanced at Susumu, and smiled at him. "You're welcome."

Haruhi glanced at her brother with an eyebrow raised. "You can't actually be enjoying this?" Haruhi asked.

"I want to go home just as much as you do," Susumu answered, "but still, we'd never get the chance to see creatures like these again. I wish I had brought my sketchbook."

"Personally I think this is pointless and a waste of time, so can we go home now?" Haruhi asked, hurriedly. "I should really be studying and we've got a ton of laundry to do today." Haruhi turned to Susumu and asked, "How many baskets do we have to wash?"

"We have three," Susumu told her, lifting up three fingers.

"That many?" Haruhi groaned in her head. "Don't we need to wash the bedding? That's the third load, right?"

"We do," Susumu confirmed. "We'll wash our clothes first, and then I'll handle the rest, so you can study."

"We have to get back home, first," Haruhi had to mention it again.

"Let me take a photo of you two together before you go!"

After the sound of the flash Nozomi lowered her camera and grinned at them. She wore a wrap-front navy white bikini top and a matching bottom with a chiffon swimsuit cover up, and her hair was styled in her usual side ponytail.

Aki stood next to her, wearing a modest high neck tankini, a towel draped on her shoulder, with someone's hand on her waist, and once he had introduced himself as Tetsuya, Aki's boyfriend, he courteously pulled out a chair for Aki and took the empty chair on Aki's right side.

"Nice to meet you, Susumu." Tetsuya extended his hand and Susumu shook it, smiling at Tetsuya.

"It's nice to meet you, too."

"Aki's told me some things about you. She says you're a nice guy, and she's not wrong, you actually look like one." Sumu gave him a small smile, as Tetsuya sent him the same amused smile, showing a bit of his teeth. "I could learn a thing or two from you about being quiet. She says I'm loud."

"And you are," Aki stated, sternly, "I can't count how many times you've humiliated yourself by singing in public."

Haruhi blinked. "You actually sing in public, Senpai?" Haruhi asked Tetsuya.

"I can't help it," Tetsuya shrugged, "when I hear my favorite song, my body just moves on its own, and I end up singing along."

Aki felt the need to remind Nozomi again that she needed to ask their permission before taking their photo.

Nozomi set her camera down on the table and pulled out the chair, preferring to sit as she talked, "Don't get so upset 'cause I took your pictures, guys."

"I feel we have a right to be upset," Susumu said, frowning at Nozomi. "You startled us, and the picture is going to be poor quality."

Aki glanced at Susumu. "_That's_ what you're upset about?"

Nozomi rested her chin on her palm and smiled at him. "I'm glad you care about my work, Susumu."

"Why'd you take it in the first place, then?" Haruhi asked. She narrowed her eyes after thinking about the possible cause. "Did you take the picture to stick it in the photobook, and to make a profit from it?"

"That's something Kyoya would do. I'm not that evil, I'd tell you first." Nozomi looked at Kyoya and gave him a smile when he glowered at her. She then turned back to Haruhi and gave her answer, "It's not for the photo book this time, nope. I'm capturing our memories."

"Oh, so that's it," Haruhi said, rolling her eyes.

"Susumu," Kyoya started, "Would you like to sit elsewhere? It's getting too crowded for my liking."

"Sure," Susumu agreed, nervously, as he followed Kyoya to a different table nearby.

There were a few chairs. Kyoya kindly pulled one out for him.

It had made him feel uneasy to be sitting so close to the other male, but that nervousness was washed away once words were spoken and topics of interest passed between the two of them. Despite fumbling on his own words sometimes, Susumu continued to share his thoughts and opinions.

'I feel comfortable around him,' Susumu thought as he gave a small smile to Kyoya, as he listened to Kyoya's thoughts on the park's design. 'It's strange.'

'Somehow, I've changed, Susumu realized, 'I used to be reserved, turning away from people who tried to get to know me, to shatter this wall that I'd hidden behind for years. But, no one could.'

'Now, I've become comfortable talking to this person, who I used to be afraid of.' Susumu stared at his lap, reminiscently, as the memories flooded back into his mind, of gaining a chill at his chilly smirk, and shrinking in size under Kyoya's gaze. Of being forced into helping him one day, and trying to keep it together when he glanced at him from the side. Of running away when Kyoya's back was turned, and Kyoya's tight grip on his wrist. Of overhearing Renge gush about Kyoya, and experiencing a burning feeling inside of him. Of being given the chance to try luxurious food, and giving a home made bento to Kyoya.

Susumu felt his cheeks grow warmer, as the memory of talking about love with him, and then Kyoya lifting his chin, staring into each other's eyes.

"Susumu? Is everything okay?" Kyoya asked, leaning forward a little.

Susumu snapped out of his thoughts, and met with Kyoya's eyes, as Kyoya's displayed a hint of concern.

"It's nothing," Susumu pushed it aside, eyeing the scenery. He smiled a little, and looked at Kyoya again. "What were you saying?"

"Honey senpai!" Haruhi shouted.

"Mitsukuni!" Mori shouted.

"Gentlemen, we're going after Honey senpai!" Tamaki declared, and then pointed at current pool, "That pool looks like the quickest way! Charge!"

Half the group followed Tamaki to the pool, those with sensibility stayed behind instead of rushing in without thinking.

Before Susumu broke out into a run, Kyoya wrapped his arms around his torso and pulled him back, hitting Kyoya's chest, causing him to utter a yelp from the sudden contact.

"I wouldn't go that way." His warning was spoken directly into Susumu's ear.

Susumu wriggled out of Kyoya's hold, just as the group encountered alligators with a hefty appetite, rising out of the water.

"There are alligators in there!"

"Okay, so we can't use that pool," Tamaki shouted, "Then let's try this way next!" But alligators surrounded them.

"They're here, too!" The twins shouted, running from a pair of alligators.

"And here!" Haruhi shouted, barely able to escape an alligator as it tried to chomp her leg.

"Help!" Nozomi screamed, before Susumu pulled her out of the way as an alligator hastily advanced towards her.

"Aki!" Tetsuya shouted, protecting her from the alligator that attempted to claw at Aki.

Aki let out a series of short breaths, as her mind tried to make sense of it all. "What's going on here?!"

"What's with all the alligators?" Haruhi asked, catching her breath.

"Beats me," Tamaki panted.

Kyoya pulled out his pocketbook, most likely to record something. "Those alligators belong to the park's tropical animals exhibit," He told them, writing as he talked, "I guess it is kind of dangerous to let them run wild, though, the cause of the present situation is the location for switch for the current pool. I'll have to have a little chat with our designers." Kyoya shut his pocketbook and smiled at the group. "Thanks a lot, you guys, I got some great data today."

"You what?!"

...

"This is a map of the Tropical Aqua Garden, this is our current location," Kyoya addressed, pointing his pen at both locations, "We need to get here. I have a feeling that's where Honey senpai probably ended up. It might be tough because to get there, we'll have to make it through this jungle area, here in the southern block."

"Distance wise we're talking about 800 meters," He moved his pen across the map and landed on a spot in the thick jungle area.

"Looks like there are a lot of undeveloped areas," Haruhi said, worriedly.

"It's a lot thicker right here," Susumu pointed out, inspecting the map.

"It might be dangerous to traverse those parts of the jungle," Tetsuya warned.

"What's out there, you think?" Nozomi asked.

"Since they're still being developed, I'm afraid I don't know," Kyoya answered.

"Whatever's out there could be even more dangerous-"

"-than alligators."

"All right! Now, this is a mission of survival!" Tamaki shouted, "I know we can make it through the treacherous jungle in one piece. It is our sworn duty to save Honey senpai!"

...

"Doesn't it feel like this jungle goes on forever?" Nozomi asked.

"Yeah, and I keep hearing all these strange animal calls," Haruhi said.

"You don't think all those animal sounds-" Hikaru started.

And Koaru finished, "-could belong to the real thing, do you?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure," Kyoya answered. "But I do know that my family always strives for authenticity, no matter the cost."

"I don't think this is the right time to say it," Susumu started, looking up at Kyoya, "but what your family is capable of doing is pretty impressive."

"I'd tone it down a little more," Aki interjected. "Atmospheres like these are too much for some people, who simply want to relax without worrying about running into a strange animal or much worse."

"I'd come here to relax, not wrestle with an alligator like earlier," Tetsuya said.

Mori suddenly slipped on a banana peel.

"Mori-senpai is-"

"-acting as clumsy as you do, boss."

Tamaki frowned at them. "Shut up."

"Just as I thought, he is worried," Haruhi muttered, and Nozomi overheard it.

Kyoya checked his watch. "Uh oh, it's about time for the squall."

"Just what we needed," Aki grumbled.

"There's shelter over there!" Tetsuya pointed out a cabana to the group.

Once they'd gotten under it, some members of the group decided to take a seat on the benches, and the others watched the rain pour.

"Hey, Mori-senpai, you seem to be really close to Honey senpai," Haruhi said to Mori, "Are the two of you like childhood friends?"

"You mean you don't know?" Hikaru asked, looking at her with an eyebrow raised.

"They're cousins," Koaru told her.

"They're related?" Susumu asked, surprised.

"The Morinozukas have been serving the Haninozuka family for generations," Kyoya said.

"However, two generations ago, the families became relatives by marriage and the master-servant relationship soon became a thing of the past," Hikaru told them.

"But even so, Mori senpai has always made a point to accompany Honey senpai," Koaru said.

"Must really get his blood going." Tamaki looked in Mori's direction. "The blood of a loyal servant flows like a mighty river through Mori senpai's vein."

"Such a beautiful story! I'm touched!" The twins wept.

"I'd never call it a beautiful story," Aki huffed.

"Mori-senpai seems very attached to Honey-senpai," Tetsuya said, "They must share a tight bond."

"Hey Mori senpai, it's gonna be all right," Haruhi reassured, placing a hand on Mori's arm. "I'm sure that Honey senpai is safe. He's a lot tougher than you might think he is, and if he gets hungry, the trees are full of bananas."

"Bananas?"

"What's he going to say?" Tamaki wondered.

Mori smiled and pat Haruhi's head. "You're right."

"Don't tell me Mori senpai is after my spot as Haruhi's daddy!" Tamaki cried.

"Isn't that kinda strange?" Tetsuya asked Aki.

"I stopped questioning it," Aki said, fed up.

"You think he'll ever give up the whole family picture?" Nozomi asked, turning to the twins.

"Knowing the boss, it's very unlikely," Hikaru shrugged.

"That's kinda creepy, when you think about it."

"What? Who're you calling creepy?"

"You're a big-o pervert," The twins sang.

"Shut up! I'm not a perv!" Tamaki shouted, as Kyoya's phone rang.

"Hello, it's me," Kyoya answered, "Well, we've had an incident that's caused some trouble."

Eventually, the rain had stopped, and Mori stepped out of the cabana to continue his search for Honey.

"Haruhi," Nozomi interrupted, smacking her on the shoulder, "Look over there."

Haruhi glanced in the direction Nozomi was looking, and saw Mori pushing away the big leaves, heading in a different direction than the one they assumed Honey had gone. Haruhi ran to Mori, with Nozomi swiftly jogging behind her.

"Mori-senpai," Haruhi called, "You're going the wrong way!"

"It's only thicker jungle in that direction!" Nozomi shouted, catching up to Haruhi, "Honey-senpai wouldn't have gone that way!"

"You're both wrong," Mori interjected, "He went _this_ way."

"Hey, wait up!" Haruhi shouted. She glanced at Nozomi for assistance, who slumped her shoulders in response, and started walking in Mori's direction.

Haruhi ran in, as well. "We're coming with you!"

Nozomi's pace was usually fast, so she looked back to make sure Haruhi was keeping up with her, though, her eyes blinked in shock at witnessing Haruhi repeatedly getting spooked by the tropical park's creatures, and almost falling into a large hole full of mud, which Nozomi had quickly rescued her from.

Mori turned around and said, "Haruhi." After, he picked her up off the ground.

'That's the first time he's ever called me by my name,' Haruhi thought, a little pleased.

"What now, Senpai?" Nozomi asked.

"We keep going," Mori answered.

Little to no conversation passed between the three, their focus was solely on finding Honey. They had been walking through the jungle for quite some time, stepping over overgrown roots and pushing past large, leafy plants.

Men in black uniforms slid down ropes, and before they could even assess the situation, they were surrounded.

"Target confirmed," A man informed, pointing his gun at Mori.

"The target has been captured by a suspicious man and young woman," Another man stated, pointing his own weapon threateningly at Nozomi. "We'll take the target into custody."

"You there. Put the boy down immediately," a man ordered, "If you refuse, we'll remove him forcefully."

"Oh, hold on!" Haruhi shouted.

The same man grabbed Haruhi by the arm, and Mori instantly reacted, punching the man to get him off her.

Seeing another man attempt to bash Nozomi on the side of her head with his weapon, Mori swept his leg and the man tumbled to the ground.

"Suspects are resisting!"

"Prepare the fire warning shots!"

"Takashi, Nozo-chan, Haru-chan, out of the way!"

Nozomi looked up at the tall trees, and witnessed Honey swinging towards them on a vine, as he yelled, crashing into a soldier and landing on the ground with ease.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing, pipsqueak?"

Honey smirked, before attacking the soldiers with powerful strength.

Honey defeated all the soldiers, shocking Nozomi and Haruhi.

"You guys should be more careful who you mess with," Honey warned, "Picking on my friends is bad, got it?"

"Nozomi!" Aki shouted, running towards them, the rest of the group following her.

"Haruhi!" Susumu shouted.

"Haruhi, are you all right!?" Tamaki shouted.

"Hey, it's Tama-chan," Honey exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"You okay, Senpai?" Koaru asked.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki shouted, and then embraced Haruhi. "I was so worried."

"I'm not sure what happened here," Hikaru said, poking one of the soldiers, "but at least they're still alive."

"It's pretty amazing that this is Honey senpai's work," Koaru also poked a soldier. "He must have really been holding back."

"What do you mean he was holding back?" Aki asked, as she pinched Tamaki, forcing him to release Haruhi.

"You don't know about Senpai?" Hikaru started to explain, "The Haninozukas are famous for their martial arts. Not only have they helped train the police and SDF forces but they've also worked with several overseas militaries."

"Honey-senpai in particular has been called the dreadnought of the Haninozuka family," Kyoya added. "By the time he was in middle school, he'd become the national champion in both karate and judo."

"Mori senpai's no slouch either," Tamaki chimed in. "He won the national championship in kendo when he was just in middle school."

"So, how are you able to find this, Honey senpai?" Koaru asked.

"It wasn't hard," Honey said. "It didn't take me long to reach the end of the current pool, so I decided to look for you guys."

"We humbly apologize!"

"I am a 2nd-generation student of the Ishizuka Dojo!"

"I am a student of the Todoroki Dojo!"

"And I'm from the Otake Dojo!"

"We are in your debt!"

"Why?" Honey asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Yes, sir! We're so sorry, sir! We were unaware that we were searching for Mitsukuni Hanozuka," a soldier said, "We've committed a terrible offense here. I apologize for this confrontation, but my Dojo will be so excited to hear that I've come face to face with the great Haninozuka. I cherish this moment."

'So he is smart,' Haruhi thought, 'He's deeper than I could ever imagine.'

"Takashi, you did an amazing job of protecting Haru-chan and Nozo-chan," Honey praised, patting Mori on his head. "I bet you were pretty lonely without me around, huh?"

"I don't know if I'd say that," Mori said, averting Honey's eyes.

Honey smiled.

...

"You know, maybe we should go to the beach next," Koaru suggested.

"Yeah, the beach would be nice," Hikaru agreed.

"You idiots, Haruhi is not interested in anything like that," Tamaki rejected it.

"Actually, I might like to go to the beach," Haruhi said, "I may not be into this silly water park, but I like the ocean. It would be nice to go to the beach, and it's so pretty."

"I'd much rather be at a beach, than a water park again," Aki said. "I've had enough of the jungle."

Nozomi scratched her arm. "I think I got mosquito bites."

"Well, don't scratch yourself," Aki scolded.

"Yeah, all right. Then that's where we'll go next time," Tamaki said, holding his chin.

"We're all gonna go to the beach, Tama-chan?" Honey asked.

"What about you?" Susumu asked Kyoya, "Do you want to go?"

"It could turn out to be an interesting experience," Kyoya answered, glancing down at Susumu with interest flickering in his eyes, as the corner of his lips lifted upwards.

"Yeah," Susumu took his eyes off Kyoya and gazed at the ground, as a hint of pink dusted his cheeks.


	8. The Sun, the Sea and the Host Club

**New Note: I am going on hiatus until September.**

**Old Note: ****With all my personal stuff piling up, I haven't been able to sit down and write. I'm pleased to say that now the first three chapters have been updated to fit the current storyline.**

**I'm sorry to those who read the original versions of those chapters. Please be sure to reread all three chapters because I added some things that you might want to look at.**

**I also left some character information at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

"Smile, Aki!"

Aki covered the side of her face with her left hand and turned away from the camera phone, fixing her eyes on a few female students packed around a desk, staring at a fashion magazine.

The picture was taken, and Nozomi was itching to see the photo. She pressed her thumb on the 'camera roll' album on her phone, and the photo displaying on the small screen showed Aki avoiding the camera. Nozomi pouted, and as she lowered her phone so did her excitement and joy at finally getting photographic proof that Aki smiled.

She sent a disappointed look at her friend who was focused on writing the homework assignment.

"What's the matter with you? Can't you find it in you to smile?"

"I'm trying to work," Aki said calmly, but her hand tightened around her pencil.

Nozomi lifted up her phone and grinned. "Come on, Aki! Smile!"

"Shut up!" Aki snapped, shutting up Nozomi, while also drawing the girls' attention to herself. "Go bother someone else!"

Nozomi left Aki and looked around. Tamaki was poking Kyoya about something, but she wasn't able to hear their conversation through all the chatter going on in the classroom.

Nozomi approached the desk in the left row.

She held onto her phone with one hand, positioning the camera over Susumu's shoulder. She saw through the camera application that Susumu was filling his sketch page with hand practice.

She was just about to take the photo when Tamaki interrupted, laying his hand flat on Susumu's desk.

"Tamaki, you ruined the perfect shot!" Nozomi yelled at him.

Tamaki didn't seem to care, he was grinning and looked excited about something.

"Susumu! I've talked our plans over with Kyoya, and you'll be happy to hear we're going!"

Susumu stopped drawing and looked up at Tamaki. "Wait, we're really going?"

Tamaki's grin grew bigger at his friend's confused look.

"Why not? Let's go to the beach!"

"Guys, wait!" Nozomi interrupted, causing the boys to look at her. "I'm lost! Why are you going to the beach?"

"Tamaki insisted a casual vacation would help us all to relax, that is if everyone was open to the idea," Kyoya said as he approached them, his hand in his pocket.

"Kyoya's family has a private beach in Okinawa," Tamaki said.

Nozomi's face instantly lit up. Then, after glancing quickly at Aki who was searching in her pencil case for a sharpener, she turned to Kyoya and asked. "We gotta invite Aki and Tetsuya! It wouldn't be the same without them!"

"I have no problem with that," Kyoya answered.

"Hell yes!" Nozomi exclaimed excitedly, "Going to the beach means special Kyosumu swimsuit photos!"

Susumu held a look of great shock and disbelief as he watched her run off.

While Tamaki was looking at the rough sketches in the sketchbook out of curiosity, Susumu broke out of his stupor and then looked at Kyoya nervously. "You heard what she said?"

"Yes. Nozomi's obsession over love between two male characters extends to real life. I've concluded that she pairs her classmates for her own amusement, even those ignorant to each other, and it seems that recently she has created a pairing for you and I." Kyoya pushed up his glasses at the end of his explanation. "I highly suggest you don't give her any reason to obsess over it further."

Susumu was perplexed by Kyoya's calm expression. "You don't mind it?" Susumu asked, when he felt a chill at the thought of being anything other than friends with Kyoya.

"She stopped shipping us, I'm so relieved," Tamaki sighed.

"Susumu," Kyoya started, nonchalantly placing his hand on Susumu's shoulder, "now that we are all on the same page, could you inform Haruhi of our plans at the earliest chance you get?"

"Okay," Susumu said, remaining still in his seat, staring down at his hands on his lap.

* * *

Armed with her Nikon camera strapped around her neck, Nozomi took a mid shot of Hikaru when he spiked the volleyball to the opponents' side of the net, which bounced and rolled away, and long shot of the twin brothers running after the ball across the sandy beach, smiling as bright as the hot sun.

When the photos displayed on the small screen, she made a note to herself to fix the brightness on the last photo.

She walked on the hot sand in her sandals, bringing the camera lens up to her eye level, and caught Haruhi and Susumu sitting under an umbrella. She adjusted the focus, and zoomed in on them.

Haruhi looked in the direction of the camera just as the picture was taken. Susumu, on the other hand, failed to look at the camera.

Nozomi knelt down on the beach towel, positioning the camera over Susumu's shoulder. She took the shot and the result displaying on the small screen, was a distinguishing body type taking up the center of the page

"This sucks. I thought going to the beach meant a day off," Haruhi complained. Nozomi knelt next to her and put the camera in front of her eyes. "If I just crop out Susumu, I can add a dreamy effect to your photo, but you know-" Nozomi trailed off, eying Susumu concentrating on getting the body drawn right.

Haruhi hummed, staring at her brother who flipped to a fresh page when he was unsatisfied with his third attempt. "Onii-chan, look at me for a second." Susumu heard her request and looked at Haruhi in time for Nozomi to snap a picture of his confused face.

Nozomi smiled and showed the photo to Haruhi. "I really like his genuine expression!"

"You really have a talent for this kind of stuff, huh?" Haruhi remarked.

Susumu smiled a little, as he closed his sketchbook and set it down on the beach towel. "Can I see it?" Just as Nozomi went to show him, three girls approached the trio.

"Um, aren't you guys going to swimming with us?" one girl asked.

"No, I like looking at the sea from a safe distance," Haruhi answered.

"Well, if you're not going to swim, would you mind if we sat here and talked with you three?" another girl asked.

"But why? You girls should go swim. You've got cute swimsuits on, why not show them off?"

At Haruhi's response, the three girls sighed, their cheeks turning pink slightly.

"I'd like to see what you were drawing, Senpai," said the third girl, looking at Susumu shyly. "I've seen your art, and I like it a lot."

"It wouldn't be much to look at," Susumu said as he looked down at his sketchbook, and then looked up at the girl. "I'm still learning how to draw overweight body types. I'm really struggling."

"You'll get better at it, Senpai, I know!"

Susumu gave her a smile for her encouragement. "That's sweet of you to say."

While looking at the photos on her camera, ignored by the others, a volleyball almost hit Nozomi, bounced near her feet, and landed next to Susumu.

"Hey, Senpai!" Nozomi turned at Hikaru waving his hand in the air. "Toss it back!"

Susumu picked up the volleyball and made his way over to the twins, handing the volleyball to Hikaru.

"I can't believe he fooled us," Hikaru said.

"Who'd have thought he'd bring the ladies with us?" Koaru thought aloud.

"We certainly didn't expect it," Hikaru admitted.

Kyoya, who was writing in his notebook, had passively listened the conversation up to that point, when he decided to speak up. "You were invited on this all expenses paid vacation for a reason, and that is to keep our clients entertained."

"We know," Hikaru sighed, "but with the ladies here-"

"Haruhi can't change into her swimsuit," Koaru said.

Tamaki held a satisfied smirk as he laid back on a white lounge chair. "Don't worry, I've got it all under control. My little angel shouldn't be prancing around in a swimsuit-at least not in front of two perverts like you." He began to go into a dream-like state. Then, he began to squirm on the chair, as if the fountain inside of him overflowed with happiness, his face flushed. "It'll happen just like that-the greatest day of my life! I don't know if I can handle it!"

"What's the matter with Tamaki? Is he having a seizure?" one of the girls inquired.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Hikaru reassured.

"He gets like this occasionally," Kaoru added.

Susumu, who had been silently watching the scene, smiled and walked back to the umbrella, picking up his sketchbook dusted with grains of pearl-white sand. Slowly, he looked around, drinking in the beautiful sight of the gateway to the aquatic world, and heaven's stars sprinkled by the goddess of the sky, were glimmering brightly as the sun glistened elegantly. He opened up to a clean page, took an extra pencil out of his right pocket, and almost pressed his pencil down on the sketch paper, when he heard strums of a guitar.

When he looked near the rocks, he spotted Tetsuya sitting on one, playing his guitar for Aki.

As each sweet note was played on the enchanting acoustic guitar, a few ladies were entranced, and swam to the male siren. Finding himself succumbing to the music, Susumu closed his eyes and smiled softly, listening to this unfamiliar spell.

One of the older girls tried getting closer to Tetsuya, leaning on the rock he sat on, and she started to flirt with him.

What broke him out of the spell, was Aki taking Tetsuya's guitar away from him. The ladies whined, but walked away, and the couple was alone once again. That was before Susumu decided to pay a compliment Tetsuya's skills on the acoustic guitar.

"That was truly amazing-towards the end was the best part," he complimented. Tetsuya faced Susumu after he was given his guitar back, smiling slightly at him.

"Whenever I play, my fingers basically just know what to do-sometimes, I don't know where these songs come from." Tetsuya laughed and earned a nudge in the shoulder from Aki.

"Don't hide the truth, Tetsuya-he actually creates his own songs." Aki said the last part as she looked up at Susumu. "It will come to him unexpectedly, and he fervently writes down the songs in his head late into at night."

Susumu chuckled a little at his and Tetsuya's similarities and opened his mouth to add on to the conversation, but stopped when he heard his sister's voice.

"Onii-chan! It's a major haul! Dinner's gonna be awesome!"

Susumu decided to join Haruhi, seeing that Tamaki was there, and Nozomi was using the shellfish in the buckets as photography subjects. However, when he was close enough, a small centipede wriggled out of the crab Tamaki was holding.

"CEN-"

"-TI-"

"-PEDE!"

All of the guests nearby screamed and ran away, including a few of the hosts. Tamaki reached out for them as tears dripped from his eyes. Nozomi took a picture of the insect, and then moved aside to let Haruhi pluck the insect from the crab and toss it over the rocks.

The twins came over, Hikaru resting his elbow on Haruhi's shoulder, while Koaru mirrored him on Nozomi's side.

"Now I know most girls aren't really the bug-loving type, and I certainly didn't think the two of you were, but-" Hikaru started.

"-don't you could've been easier on that little guy?" Koaru finished.

Haruhi wiped her hands on her shorts. "Oh, come on, it's not dead. Takes a lot more than that to kill a bug."

Nozomi checked the photo on her camera. "I never got a picture of a centipede before-why would I have wasted the opportunity?"

As soon as the insect was gone, a handful of the girls returned to the area, expressing their admiration for Nozomi and Haruhi's fearless actions.

"Haruhi is so brave and manly!"

"Senpai wasn't afraid, did you see that?!"

As the guests started to flock to Haruhi, Nozomi used the chance to slip away undetected. She was used to fawning over a bunch of fictional characters, not the other way around but with real girls. She scoped around for a new subject, happening to overhear a conversation between the twins, and Tamaki, who was clutching the crab in his hands.

"The deadline is sunset tomorrow!" She overheard Hikaru say.

"Whoever can find out their weaknesses first wins!" Koaru said.

"And I have the perfect prizes for the game's lucky winner," Kyoya interrupted, his glasses shining. When Nozomi zoomed the lens in on the prize, she practically forget her cheerful self and flew off the handle. He held two sets of photos in his hands-of those sets, Haruhi was the subject of multiple candid shots back in her junior days, while the other set was ripped right out of Nozomi's family photo album. One picture was of her at age twelve, caught on camera reading her first yaoi manga and red in the face. Her long brown hair fell at her shoulders, and a fuzzy blanket was draped over her head.

"We wanna play too!" Honey chirruped.

"I guess that means we're all competing," Kyoya said, while waving the set in his right hand in different directions, as Tamaki's eyes were glued to the candid shots of Haruhi.

"Hey, wait a minute, where did you get those pictures, Kyo-chan?" Honey asked.

"I'd like to have those photos back," Susumu interrupted, while holding one hand out.

Kyoya tucked the photos into his breast pocket. "I have my sources," he said simply. "How about we just leave it at that for the moment?"

Nozomi began to march towards him and looked at Kyoya accusingly. "So _that's_ why I didn't see my photos in the album!" she shouted. "You could've asked nicely, you know, instead of going behind my back!"

"A discreet method works best," he answered, turning her own words against her.

* * *

"They're competing to find our fears?" Haruhi repeated back, her tone displaying anger and great annoyance.

"Yes," her older bother confirmed.

"And where'd Kyoya-senpai get the photos of me?" Haruhi paused, looking at Nozomi suspiciously.

"Hey, no way, I only have current photos of you!" Nozomi defended, leaving Haruhi displeased from hearing it.

"The hell are they going to do?" Haruhi inhaled deeply through her nostrils, trying to control her anger. "I'm not going to let it bother me."

Nozomi put her camera on around her neck. "I've just gotta take some more pictures. Come on, Susumu-" Nozomi grabbed Susumu's wrist and dragged him along, struggling to keep up with her pace. "We gotta find Kyoya!"

"I-uh-Nozomi, hold on!"

* * *

Haruhi sighed exasperatedly as she walked along the shoreline collecting more shellfish. "For once, I'd like to have a relaxing trip." Haruhi picked up a red crab scuttling on the beach, trying to make it back to the ocean. She had handed a bucket to her brother, and he already filled it up with fresh fish.

"Do you want to go home?" Susumu asked.

"Usually I'd want to be at home," she answered, shaking the grains of sand on the crab shell before tossing it into Susumu's bucket. "We could've used the day off to clean the house, and maybe try out that new cooking recipe you found."

"With this haul, we could have leftovers for days!" he smiled as he raised his bucket.

"I wonder if we can take some home-it would be nice to eat seafood for lunch!"

Susumu plucked another shell between two rocks. "Look, another side dish." He turned and put the shell in her bucket.

Haruhi accepted it with content smile on her face. "They're gonna taste so good!"

"Look up here, guys!" They both looked upwards and saw three girls standing on the top of the rock above them.

"The breeze up here feels great!" one of the girls remarked.

"It's dangerous, be careful." Concerned for the girls, Haruhi started to make her way up the cliff to where the girls were standing, but ran backwards and called back to Susumu. "Onii-chan, follow me! Hurry up!"

"Okay, but we have to be careful!" Susumu said as he followed her.

As they trudged up the cliff, halfway up they began to hear male voices and Susumu saw his sneakers running over there until he reached the top, and he gasped at the scene happening before him. One rough looking man was gripping a girl's wrists, and the more she tried to free herself, screaming and kicking the older man's legs, the more his grip tightened, and his friend held two girls in an iron hold as they cried out for help, and the third guy was observing the girls hopelessly struggle to get away with hungry eyes. Susumu felt the need to protect those young girls.

Susumu got closer enough to the men. "What you're doing is harassment. Let the girls go, and leave right now-if you do, there won't be any trouble!"

The first man tched. "You're talking big for a little pipsqueak." He tossed away the girl he was holding, and then he approached Susumu angrily.

"Run!" Susumu shouted at Momoka.

"Why don't you mind your own damn business-!"

The punch was fast, and yes, it hurt him more than scraping his leg on the rocky floor. He caught the man approaching him from the corner of his eye. Susumu tried to get back up, but he was lifted up by his hair, forced to look at the man's face.

The man's lips curled into a twisted smile. "Don't go trying to act tough when you're such a sissy boy!" A bucket of shellfish got hurled at the man. In the man's surprise, he threw Susumu to the ground and turned to the one who interfered, clawing at the shellfish attached to his back.

"Weren't you jerks listening?! You better just leave my brother alone!" Haruhi ordered.

"You little runt-!"

"Haruhi, get out of here-!"

* * *

Momoka ran as fast as her legs could carry her, finally coming to a halt in front of Tamaki and the twins.

She tried to explain as she caught her breath, "It's Haruhi! Susumu-senpai is up there with him, but he's hurt!" She pointed at the top of the cliff.

Tamaki ran with the wind behind him.

* * *

Susumu writhed underneath the strong older man holding him down, as the first man advanced towards the edge, suspending Haruhi above the waves crashing into the base of the cliff. Haruhi grabbed onto the man's wrist with both hands as his grip tightened on her shirt collar, pushing her forward.

"What are you gonna do now, _loser_?" the man growled.

"Don't hurt him!"

"I've got an idea, kid. How'd you like to take a dip?"

"Senpai! Help!"

There wasn't much he could do to help. He felt sick to his stomach as if he was going to throw up on the spot.

He struggled, calling out his sister's name. "Haruhi!"

"Onii-chan-!" The thug dropped her off the rocky surface.

_"Haruhi!"_ All that Susumu saw before he shut his eyes, was Tamaki diving off the cliff after his sister.

* * *

"Susumu, wake up." The voice was faint, but familiar, entering Susumu's ears with the repeated bashing sounds not too far from him. He felt a masculine hand stroking his hair. He began to slowly open his eyes and saw a familiar person staring down at him behind thin glasses. Susumu blinked before it dawned on him his head was on Kyoya's lap, a huge blush across his cheeks.

"Try to remain calm." Kyoya's tone was softer than it normally was.

Susumu inhaled the sea air drifting upwards to the overhang, exhaling to calm himself down, and sat up.

Susumu looked around to see where he was, and saw the twins beating up the three men from before.

"We should do something," he said out of concern.

"I've already tried separating Hikaru and Koaru from those two punks," Kyoya told him.

"But they're going to beat them to death! We can't let them do that!"

"You need be more concerned for yourself," Kyoya stated. Susumu listened to him, picking himself up off the ground and following him down the cliff.

When they got down there, they met with the group as Tamaki carried Haruhi back to shore in his arms.

Susumu was never more relieved to see her.

"Susumu!" Nozomi hurried over and immediately pulled him in for a hug. "Don't you dare do that again!"

"I promise," Susumu gasped out.

Nozomi pulled away and smiled, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

"How is everyone?" Tamaki asked.

"I just called some paramedics, and they'll be arriving here very soon," said Aki, putting away her phone.

After Tamaki set her down on the sand, Haruhi glanced at her brother.

Susumu smiled softly at her, but she looked away, turning her head downwards.

Tamaki held Haruhi's shoulder, causing her to look up. "What were you thinking? You know, you're not like Honey-senpai," he said seriously. "You're not a martial arts master. Why did you confront them? What made you think you would stand a chance?" Tamaki glanced at Susumu, who looked at him. "You both against two boys?"

"But it doesn't matter that they're boys and I'm a girl," Haruhi protested, "and Onii-chan was hurt. I had to help him. There wasn't any time to think-"

"That's no excuse, you idiot! Don't forget, you're a girl!" Tamaki shouted at her.

"Look, I'm sorry you had to come and save me, I don't understand why you're so mad at me right now," Haruhi shouted back. "I don't think I did anything wrong!"

"You don't think so? Fine, whatever you say." Tamaki released her and started to walk away. "But I'm not speaking to you until you can admit that you were wrong!"

Aki and Tetsuya came over to Susumu. He put his hand on Susumu's shoulder, smiling, "Glad that you're okay."

"Your actions made us all worried," Aki said. "Though, I am glad to see that you didn't gain any injuries."

"Remember, you can ask me, or anyone one of us for help, okay?" Nozomi smiled brightly, lightnening Susumu's mood.

He forced a smile. "I will." Susumu touched where the man had punched him, feeling the red imprint on his face. "Honestly, I'm more concerned for Haruhi than myself." He looked back at his sister, worry in his eyes

* * *

Aki sat on the guest bed with a folded pillow placed behind her lower back, her gray eyes reading the book in her hand, while Nozomi was sorting through some of her shots taken today and made the occasional pleased smile when she saw a photo of her pairing. She had decided to take up on Nozomi's offer to relax in Haruhi and Nozomi's room before having dinner with the others. Haruhi was really the one who needed to relax, though.

After getting into the next chapter, turning to the second page in her book, Aki heard the sound of the running water from the bathroom sink turning off, and the door to the bathroom opened, Haruhi walking out holding her wet clothes, wearing a sleeveless pink night dress.

Nozomi put her camera down, leaving it on the bed, and threw her legs over the side of the bed.

"Can't wait to have dinner! I'm ready to stuff my face! What about you, Haruhi?" Nozomi asked. Haruhi didn't respond as she went to place the damp clothes on the chair.

Aki looked up from her book to fix her eyes on Haruhi. "If things carry on like this, the two of you will never make up." Haruhi turned around, looking impassively at both female upperclassmen.

"It's my fault that Onii-chan got hurt. If I hadn't asked him to go up there with me, maybe-" Haruhi cut herself off.

Aki sighed. "You understand that wasn't a fight neither of you could win?" After placing her closed book on the nightstand, she put her black glasses back on. "Susumu is too much of a nice guy to have let you go up there, and face those men alone. He knew the danger, and yet he still tried protecting you and those underclassmen."

"Aki has a point," Nozomi agreed. "Maybe you could try apologizing to Tamaki when you're ready? I really don't like seeing my friends fight." Haruhi's lips pursed, and she glanced at the window for a moment, briefly taking in the sight of dark clouds forming. At the sound of knocking at the door, Aki stood up. Before reaching for the door handle, Aki glanced at Haruhi to confirm something with her. "Will you be eating with us?"

"Yeah," though Haruhi stood in her spot in the room, waiting for the girls to walk out. Nozomi stood up tentatively from the bed and walked past her underclassman, concern displayed in her eyes as she looked back at Haruhi. As Haruhi walked out and closed the door behind her, she sighed softly.

* * *

Once the group had returned to the Ootori family villa, Susumu walked to talk to Haruhi alone-though she passed right by him and hurried to her guest room. He was taken to his guest room with Kyoya's help, where the doctor examined him and found no serious injuries. Now, he was helping set up the table in the dining room, placing a large plate of steamed crabs down on the clothed table.

The delicious smell of steamed crabs invaded Tetsuya's nose. "Not only does it look good, it smells good, too! Are you some master in the kitchen?"

"I had help," Susumu said. Still, he conveyed his gratitude for the compliment with a smile.

"It's awfully gloomy out there, huh?" Honey looked outside the large glass window, observing the dark clouds beginning to take form in the sky. "It looks like it's gonna rain!"

Hikaru slid down in his chair. "It's not just gloomy outside."

"It's pretty gloomy right here in the dining room, as well," Koaru said. His focus turned to Tamaki who was sitting on the floor around a pillar with his knees pulled in close to his chest. "Just take a look at Senpai."

"Come on, quit moping boss."

"You shouldn't have picked a fight with her in the first place."

When the door opened, it caught all the boys attention, revealing all three girls and Mori standing there at the doorway.

"You look so cute, Haru-chan!" Honey complimented.

"Haruhi, where'd you get that dress?" the twins asked.

"From my Otou-san," she answered, and then she looked at Susumu accusingly. "But Otou-san _wasn't_ the one who repacked my bags when I wasn't looking, right, Onii-chan?"

Susumu looked away from her, pocketing his hands. "Otou-san asked me to do it," he admitted.

Haruhi sighed. "I knew it. He's always trying to get me to where this frilly stuff."

Tetsuya wasted no time in approaching his girlfriend and planted a light kiss on her left cheek. He liked the long sleeved but light dress she was wearing, while his girlfriend's best friend was wearing a crew neck day dress with bow details. "Have I ever mentioned how beautiful you are?"

Aki rolled her eyes at his light-hearted smile, though on the inside she was smiling, herself. "Several times already-though I haven't complained once." Nozomi grinned at the lover's flirting. Aki found something else to roll her eyes at.

"My heart can't take this! My ship is so beautiful!" Nozomi gushed. "This night is going off to a great start!"

It became clear that the rest of the evening would be in a state of tension. The group had all sat down at the table and arranged themselves in a way that caused Haruhi and Tamaki to sit next to each other. Susumu was going to get up and offer up his seat to Tamaki, but Aki silently asked him to not interfere.

"Well, this is uncomfortable," Hikaru commented.

"Yeah, kind of awkward," Koaru agreed.

"Well, let's not let this feast go to waste!" Nozomi piped up.

"Right! Let's dig in, Haru-chan!" Honey turned to Haruhi, holding up a crab. "These are the crabs we caught! I bet they're delicious!"

Haruhi snapped open a crab leg and ate it, at the same time Nozomi picked up her first crab leg. She ate one after another. "These crabs taste in-crab-bable!" She joked. "Get it?" Haruhi ate more crab legs.

"I knew the crabs were gonna taste clawesome," Tetsuya joked.

Aki elbowed her boyfriend in the side as she ate her crab leg, causing Tetsuya to turn to her and smile.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" Tamaki asked. "Give it a rest!"

"Excuse me, I thought that you weren't speaking to me," Haruhi said with her mouth full.

"Haruhi, you should slow down," Susumu agreed, sounding a little worried. "You could get sick."

"I've heard that one before!" Nozomi commented, chewing on a crab leg. Nozomi threw the crab leg onto her mountain of crab legs and picked up another one.

"You need to slow down, too," Aki said to Nozomi, just as she was about to open another crab leg.

Tamaki suddenly stood up, banging his hand on the napkin. "Okay, fine, I get it. It seems you refuse to admit that you were wrong. See if I care, then. I'm going to bed." Tamaki started to walk away. "Kyoya, would you show me to my room, please?"

"No problem," Kyoya said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Well, excuse me everyone." He got up and followed Tamaki out into the hallway.

Haruhi stopped before she snapped open a leg. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I do need to find a way to protect myself."

"So, that's it. He got to you, huh?"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt you to learn martial arts or something," Hikaru said.

"It's not like we're gonna force you to learn it," Koaru said.

"Besides, that's not the real issue here," they said together.

"To be honest, we were all a little worried about how recklessly you acted." Hikaru kept his eyes downwards as he spoke.

Haruhi looked down at her plate, feeling her stomach begin to sink. "Aki-senpai pointed out a lot of things to me." She looked at Susumu with sad eyes. "Onii-chan, if I didn't ask you to go up there with me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Susumu gave her a smile that filled her heart with warmth as if he just hugged her, removing all the guilt and heartache. "You don't have to apologize to me, I'm still here, and I always will be." Everything her brother just said made Haruhi smile.

"Are you ready to apologize, now?" Nozomi asked, reminding Haruhi about what she suggested earlier.

"You made us all worried, especially Tama-chan," Honey mentioned, looking at her with a soft smile. "I think you need to apologize to him the most."

"So you were worried about me?" Haruhi asked.

"We were worried about the both of you," Aki said. She lowered her eyes as she pushed up her glasses. "I'm honestly glad you're both still here with us."

Nozomi wrapped an arm around Haruhi and hugged her shoulder. "We can't lose either one of you!"

Susumu smiled at all his friends and his sister.

Suddenly, Haruhi bent forward in her chair, clutching onto her shoulders. "I'm not feeling so good." Nozomi started to rub circles on her back.

"I told you not to eat so much," Susumu sighed, looking at his sister with a stomach ache. "I'll take her to the nearest bathroom."

* * *

Susumu was crouched next to Haruhi, patting her back as she threw up into the toilet. "Will you listen to me, next time?"

"Yeah," she managed to respond, staring down at the chunks of crab in the toilet water.

His hand went to grip the edge of the bathroom sink, using it to lift himself up. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, a sad look came to Susumu's face, and he turned away, looking back at his sister flushing the vomit down the toilet. "Haruhi, there's something-" He paused, gripping the counter. "Listen," he sounded serious, now, "I know that you've always thought a person's sex doesn't matter, but if those men had found out you were a girl and took advantage of you, I couldn't live with myself."

Haruhi looked up at him, listening closely to everything he was saying.

"You were the only person who I talked to, while I kept everyone else away," he said, never breaking eye-contact with her. "Watching that man suspend you over the water honestly scared me. I don't want to think about losing you."

"Onii-chan, I get what you're saying," Haruhi finally said, after staying quiet for so long. "You're just trying to prove Senpai's point by being honest with me. I get it, now."

"Good," he mustered up a small smile, "I'm going to wait for you outside, now."

* * *

Susumu stepped out, closing the bathroom door behind him.

"Are you okay?"

Susumu was reaching for the bedroom door handle and the familiar voice startled him. As his head slowly turned to see the person behind him, his heart pounded in his chest and his wide eyes took in shirtless Kyoya. Kyoya just came out of the shower, and was drying his damp hair with a towel.

Susumu eyed the door handle and his mind registered that escaping the room was a likely option for him-probably his best option. Waiting it out in the hallway until Haruhi was finished using the bathroom was his initial plan, but now that Kyoya was present in the room, his plan unfortunately changed to waiting it out in the room with Kyoya alone. He _would _have reached for that handle and ran away if he _weren't_ getting used to being alone with Kyoya.

At the same time his mind thought back to the memory of his head resting on Kyoya's lap, his hands found their way into his pockets and he walked closer to Kyoya, moving away from the door. "I didn't mean to intrude. I thought no one was staying in this room."

"It's no trouble, you didn't know," Kyoya said as he continued to dry his hair.

Susumu noticed the glasses on the table and then he looked closely at Kyoya's dark eyes, seeing him without his glasses for the first time. He realized he'd been staring at him for too long when Kyoya darted his eyes at him.

"Haruhi wanted to apologize for the way she acted today." He paused, looking back at the bathroom door. "She didn't mean to make the others worry about her."

"Tell her thanks, but I wasn't especially worried." Kyoya stood up from the chair and picked up the bottle of water on the table. The cold drink traveled down his throat. "Although, one of the girls told me that you tried to handle the situation through dialogue." Kyoya then faced Susumu with a chilling look in his eyes. "I assumed you knew better than to enter a dangerous situation without any other support."

"I felt the need to protest those girls, so I stepped in," he justified, feeling a chill from Kyoya's gaze.

Kyoya set down the bottle and began to walk in the direction of the light switch. "And because of you two, I had to send each of the girls a bouquet of flowers to apologize. They've been looking forward to this trip, and we don't want to disappoint them."

Susumu lowered his eyes to the ground. "I'll be sure to pay you back for the flowers, Kyoya."

"Each bouquet cost me fifty thousand." Kyoya put his hand on the light switch. "That's a grand total of six hundred thousand yen, Susumu." And he turned off the lights.

Susumu was shaking as he instinctively stepped back. "Please turn the lights back on." He bumped his back into a wall and his fearful eyes shot upwards as Kyoya slammed both his hands next to his head.

Kyoya bent down to look at him directly. "If you want to, you can pay me back with your body." Grabbing his wrist, Susumu let out a shout as he was thrown onto the bed. He landed on his back, and Kyoya put himself on top of him, pinning his wrists down.

"Surely you didn't believe you would stay behind your protective wall forever, that those walls around your heart meant to keep everyone out were shatterproof. You left yourself completely open to others, and you unknowingly assisted me in uncovering your secret."

Kyoya leaned down to Susumu's ear and whispered, "You have always been homosexual."

Susumu, who had nowhere else to look except into Kyoya's eyes, responded with quivering eyes when Kyoya pressed his forehead and nose with his, their lips inches away from each other.

"Don't deny how much of an effect I have on you," he whispered to the frightened male under him, his breath tickling the other's face.

Torn between his body not resisting, and his increased heart rate, presumably from fear, Susumu had no idea what to do next-but he did know what to say.

In the bathroom, Haruhi turned off the cold water, and wiped her mouth with a cloth. Dark clouds began to roll in, and the sky started to cry, its tear drops pelting against the large windows of the villa. Cracking the door open slightly, she quietly took a peek into the darkened room, and when Haruhi spotted the boys on the bed, her eyes shot wide.

"You were right all along, you were right about me." It came out in a soft whisper. Tears started to prick his eyes. "I hid behind a wall because I was too afraid to come out." Susumu turned his head and looked left at the rain hitting against the glass window. Then, he looked back at Kyoya to say something else. "But you wouldn't gain anything from doing it with a guy, Kyoya."

Kyoya retracted one hand, putting it under his chin. "Nothing to be gained from it, huh? An interesting thought, in its own way-though my heart has decided."

"At times, you fill my heart with your kindness, and yet you find ways to irritate me." Kyoya's tone sounded serious and chilling. And then he smirked. "It appears that you've captured my interest, Susumu."

"No. No!" Kyoya blocked Susumu's mouth with his, not even letting the two of them breathe.

Seeing enough, Haruhi opened the bathroom door and stepped out.

Then, when the two parted for air, Susumu managed to push Kyoya off him, who was distracted by Haruhi's sudden presence, and jumped off the bed.

Once he saw his sister standing by the opened bathroom door and her shocked face, he flung open the bedroom door and ran out.

"Onii-chan, wait!" Haruhi called.

After Kyoya sat up and put his glasses back on his face, Haruhi approached him.

"Kyoya-senpai, I won't tell anyone," Haruhi said tentatively.

Kyoya said nothing.

Suddenly, Tamaki stepped in through the doorway. "Kyoya, do you have any lotion-wait, why is the door open?" When Tamaki saw Haruhi beside Kyoya and the messed up sheets, he immediately jumped to one conclusion. "You bastard-"

Kyoya smacked the lotion on Tamaki's face. "Here, use as much as you want, you big goof." After the door closed behind him, Kyoya started walking down the hall, pocketing his hands.

* * *

Returning to the guest bedroom he was staying in, Susumu leaned his head back against the door and shut his eyes as more tears fell. He eventually slid down the door and buried his face in his hands.

* * *

When Haruhi heard the sounds of a thunderstorm, her eyes slowly widened. Haruhi reached out her hand and called him back. "Senpai." She leaped off the bed at the loud thunder clap, grabbing a hold of the end of Tamaki's shirt as he was about to leave.

Tamaki turned around and looked at her with worry. "Haruhi?"

Haruhi put her hands up to explain, when thunder struck again and she squealed.

"What's wrong, Haruhi?"

"It's nothing," she dismissed it, opening the doors of a wardrobe and climbing inside. "I just remembered there's some business I have to take care of! Excuse me!"

"What business could you have in a wardrobe!" Tamaki shouted, except he was given a loud crash of thunder for a response.

"Haruhi, are you afraid of thunder and lightning?" he asked as he approached the wardrobe. "Why'd you lock yourself in there?" He struggled to open the doors. "It seems like it'd be scarier locked up like that."

"I'm all right. I'm used to getting through stuff like this by myself," Haruhi said. "Onii-chan's always there with me, he'd comfort me so I wouldn't cry."

"By yourself?" Tamaki pulled back and released his hold on the door handles. "You're always with your brother, all alone together in your home. You never call on us even though we're so close. I get it." He forced the doors open. "I understand now, Haruhi. I'm sorry I acted the way I did. You grew up only relying on Susumu, but not anymore." He held his hand out for her as she looked up. "You can come out now."

Just then, another crash of thunder frightened Haruhi, and she jumped into Tamaki's arms.

"You don't have to be afraid," Tamaki reassured, "I'll always be here for you, Haruhi. I promise you'll never be alone."

* * *

"Don't you think it's weird that Susumu's not with us?" Nozomi asked.

"He has to be resting in his room. The day was absolutely eventful for him," Aki responded.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Hikaru started.

"To leave the two of them alone?" Koaru finished.

"She's with our prince, Tamaki. What could possibly go wrong?" Kyoya said, walking down the hallway with the group.

"You ask that question, and yet we all know the answer," Aki said.

Tetsuya looked at Aki confusedly. "He can't be doing anything bad to her-he didn't strike me as that kind of guy."

"Senpai, you haven't known the boss long enough-" Koaru started.

"To know he's an idiot," Hikaru finished, albeit rudely.

Tetsuya chuckled, putting his eyes forward. "Yeah, I did get that impression from him today."

Once reaching the room, Hikaru knocked on the door. "Hey, boss?"

Staring at the scene playing out in front of them left some members of the group shocked, and others very angered. Tamaki was in the midst of placing a blindfold over Haruhi's eyes.

"With the blindfold on, you can't see anything, and the earplugs help muffle any sound!"

"Wow! Yeah, you're right."

The sound of the shutter going off, and the bright light from the flash drew Tamaki's attention to the group standing at the doorway. Nozomi lowered her camera and showed anger in her smile.

"You nasty pervert," Hikaru said, glaring at him.

"What are you doing to her?" Aki asked with an icy glare.

"It's not like that!" Tamaki tried to protest. "It's not what you think!"

* * *

"You better watch your back, Haruhi." Hikaru warned.

"I never would've pegged the boss as an SM pervert." Koaru warned.

"I told you, it wasn't like that at all!" Tamaki protested.

"I see. Well now I know what SM is," Haruhi said, aand then rolled up the car window. "I can't believe I almost let you get away with it."

"I wasn't doing anything freaky! I was trying to help you!"

"Let's go," Kyoya ordered, not caring that Tamaki wasn't in the car.

"Hey! Don't leave without me!" Tamaki shouted, running after the car. "Wait, you guys!"

The inside of the car was admittedly quiet.

Haruhi noticed that her brother was looking out the window, and then she gave him a side-hug.

Susumu looked at Haruhi, surprised. "What was that for, Haruhi?"

"You looked like you needed it," Haruhi said, smiling at him.

Susumu finally smiled. "I did need it, thanks."

* * *

The Original Characters

Fujioka, Susumu

He is a highly artistic second-year student from a middle class family who attends Ouran Academy on an arts scholarship.

He is 5'4"

He has brown eyes, and brown hair.

Susumu is usually seen with his nose buried in a book or drawing in his sketch book. He previously avoided anything to do with the Host Club; although in his second year he was forced to join the host club along with his younger sister Haruhi after he accidentally broke an expensive Renaissance vase, and reluctantly became a host to work off the cost of the vase. He is a hard worker, and attracts customers with his kindness, which earned him the title of the "Nice Guy" type. His rose color is peach. In Western culture, a peach rose is a symbol of modesty. The subtle color also indicates demureness and innocence, which is what Susumu is. He used to be very reserved, and tried not to draw attention to himself.

Although he may be still quiet by nature, self-conscious, and is nervous when physically touched by a person of the same sex, particularly the Host Club Vice President, his wall has since been shattered, and he displays more social behavior. Susumu cares for his sister deeply, and is willing to raise his voice and defend her at any moment. In return, Haruhi accepts every part of him and refuses to let him handle things on his own.

Yamashita, Nozomi

She is an upbeat second-year Student at Ouran Academy.

She is 5'6"

She has brown eyes, and always keeps her brown hair in a side ponytail.

Nozomi is a naturally cheerful and loving person, sometimes overly so. When she was first introduced, Nozomi openly displayed her obsession over love between two male characters-her obsession also extends to real life in which she has pairings for her friends and classmates at Ouran. She tends to take pictures of others without their permission and is sometimes spying on her pairing. Through her interest in manga and anime, Nozomi was able to tell Haruhi's gender right off the bat. She requested to be the Host Club's photographer, selling monthly cosplay photo books of each host. Her rose color is yellow. In Western culture, the yellow rose symbolizes friendship, joy and caring.

Sugiyama, Aki

She is a studious student at Ouran Academy.

She currently dating Haruse Tetsuya.

She is 5'7"

She has gray eyes, black hair, and wears black framed glasses.

Her default expression is calm that it's surprising when her temper is released when she is provoked. Aki also never seems to smile-or she thinks there's nothing to smile about. Having been raised in a glamorous family of entertainers, Aki quickly distanced herself from the flashy world of show business, and set her sights on a career path that involves chemistry. Even when her family urges her to use her musical voice, her answer stays the same. Her belief is that hard work will lead to great succession in life, therefore her studies are very important to her, and concentrates more on schoolwork over anything else. However, Aki makes time in her schedule to be with her friends and her boyfriend.

Naruse, Tetsuya

He is a carefree second-year student at Ouran Academy.

He is currently dating Sugiyama Aki.

He is 5'9"

He has moss colored eyes, and brown hair.

Tetsuya has joked that he and Aki were born into the wrong family. His family focuses on finance and banking, and is famously known for it. He has been taught business early on in his life, but instead he wishes to pursue his interests. His parents were pretty lenient to him taking up the guitar. He plays with his whole heart. Tetsuya likes being around people, and is able to get along with almost anyone. He is also outgoing, loud, and disorganized. When he heard Aki comes from a family of entertainers, Tetsuya persistently tried to get Aki to play music with him, to hear her voice, but she always turned him down until he admitted his love for her.


	9. A little goodbye note

**I am sorry for being on hiatus for so long. I ****I know most of you wanted to read the next chapter, but I ****have to tell you, readers, that I can't continue a story that I rushed into. I want to rewrite it, not give up on it. I just need to take it slowly, edit one chapter at a time, and hope that you will read it on archive of our own, under the same name, and ****I'm going to keep this story here to look back on.**** Why am I moving there? Because I need a fresh start. It's gonna take me a bit of time to get this story to what I want. **


	10. Quick Update! It's been so long! Hi!

A/N: Holy crap, it's been months since I was last here. Quick update you guys, I posted a rewritten version of Shattering Glass. Go, read it, and tell me what you think!


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